Cat Power & r & & r & Jukebox & r & & r & 4 STARS & r & & r & & lt;span class= & quot;dropcap & quot; & C & lt;/span & at Power's newest album is a covers record -- that complicated beast -- with offerings from Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams and Joni Mitchell. Jukebox is far from your average karaoke night, though -- Chan Marshall's voice is nothing short of heavenly, and the backing from the Dirty Delta Blues band, replete with piano and organ, is just the kind of soulful complement to accompany such a set of pipes. The only original tune on the record is "Song to Bobby," a re-creation of Marshall's meeting with the legendary Dylan -- coming right on the heels of her cover of his "I Believe in You." Oddly enough, despite the strength of the covers, the best song on the record is Marshall's reworking of her Moon Pix-era "Metal Heart," which boils over with feedback and fever pitch. Here's hoping her next offering is original material -- though a sing-along with Marshall beats the hell out of your brother-in-law butchering "Freebird" for the seventh time.
-- JEFF ECHERT
DOWNLOAD: "Metal Heart"
Tim Krekel Orchestra
Soul Season
4 STARS
& lt;span class= & quot;dropcap & quot; & T & lt;/span & he gap between country music and soul music is not as wide as most people would think, and one only has to listen to the lyrics in each genre to get an idea of their thematic similarities. Hell, Ray Charles proved that more than 40 years ago. So it should not be too surprising when artists classified as country branch out, throw a blues riff into the mix and rip out a heartfelt R & amp;B basher. That's exactly what Tim Krekel has done, and he has declared it "Soul Season."
Krekel has been writing country hits for years, but his own records are juke-joint rockers. "Soul Season" takes the white-boy blues to a new place, rich with horns and Hammond B-3 riffs. With a great sense of what he wants to do, Krekel hits this one out of the park.
-- JAMES KELLY
This review originally appeared in Creative Loafing in Atlanta.
DOWNLOAD: "Be With You"
