Barb Jungr - Live Review - The Wiltshire Times

From her opening number, Walking In Memphis, I was hooked. And through almost all the first half of her show, the penultimate in the festival, I felt Barb Jungr had flicked through my personal music collection and plucked out the favourites.

Apart from having a tremendous voice, extraordinary vocal range and great taste, she is an intelligent interpreter of songs.

When she said she often takes a song scheduled for three minutes and slows it down to make it last eight and a half, I was apprehensive. Such ‘interpretations' frequently don't work, and merely mangle a beautiful song. Not so with Ms Jungr. She takes great care of her chosen songs and her interpretations shed a welcome fresh light on familiar material.

Her subject matter ranged from Cole Porter to Kris Kristofferson with the Bee Gees, Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohen and Eddie Rabbit (Kentucky Rain) in between.

She also has a superb accompanist in pianist Jenny Carr, who occasionally filled in as backing group and vocal harmony.

And if the musical excellence was not enough, Ms Jungr is a great comedienne too. She has a fund of wonderful stories about the songs, composers and her life which enrich the overall performance.