Produced by
Barb Jungr, Adrian York & Calum Malcolm
all* vocals & tambourine: Barb Jungr
celeste, piano, vocoder programming, synth, organ, bells, waterfone and soundscape recordings: Adrian York
clarinets, piano, keyboard samples and sounds cape: Jonathan Cooper
violin: Miriam Teppich & Dominika Rosiek
viola: Rebecca Brown
cello: Thangam Debbonaire
harp: Billy Jackson
acoustic bass: Mario Castronari
*backing voices: Barb Jungr, Mari Wilson, Ian Shaw (track 13)
Barb Jungr writes:
Night. Some mythical Deep South. Looking through the frayed, gently blowing curtains into the large room of a decaying ante bellum house. Vines push through the ceiling and roots puncture the floorboards. On a chair, in the moonlight, a woman in a faded ball gown sits, spine straight, eyes straight ahead, cradling the bruised and bloodied body of her dreams to her heart. In the corner of the room casting intermittent green light a modem blinks. Beating time. Silently.
That’s the picture that came to me when this collection of songs came together. With this repertoire and the memory of the King, something happened and the songs and the language we needed musically, emerged of their own accord.
The songs are not all obvious, though some are. They chose themselves as soon as I started to peel the list down and work on the material. The lyrics, when exposed, tell a very different story of life, love, loss and faith now, and speak to the memory of the great singer who sang them half a century ago.
I am indebted to Howard Thompson for pushing me towards this repertoire, to my stupendous arrangers Adrian and Jonathan, and of course Calum Malcolm - who have to put up with me talking in images and demanding the impossible, and to all the friends and colleagues who gave research help, song suggestions and encouraged in every way.
Arrangements: Adrian York and Jonathan Cooper.
Recordings: Calum Malcolm, Adrian York and Jonathan Cooper.
Recorded at Livingston Studios with help from Jon Olliffe., and at Adrian York and Jonathan Cooper’s studios.
Mixed by Calum Malcolm and Adrian York at Calum Malcolm’s studio.
Photos and sleeve design: John Haxby
Barb Jungr’s Website design James Johnstone