Cat Power: Jukebox

Jukebox is Chan Marshall's second

album of covers, and given all the semi-ridiculous presumptions regarding her

emotional stability, like the notion that she's perpetually perched on the lip

of a colossal breakdown, it isn't too hard to guess why she might be

preternaturally drawn to other people's songs. Still, she's awfully good at imbuing

her work with mixed longing and detachment, which is clear even when the

melodies aren't her own.

With the help of the Dirty

Delta Blues Band, featuring Jim White of the Dirty Three on drums and Jon

Spencer Blues Explosion's Judah Bauer on guitar, Marshall re-interprets tracks

from Frank Sinatra, George Jackson, Billie Holiday, James Brown, and more: Her

gender-twisted take on Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man" (now "Ramblin' (Wo)man")

is boozy and warm, musically distinct from Williams' twangy, acoustic lament,

but no less desperate. Her version of Janis Joplin's "Woman Left Lonely"

occasionally veers toward schmaltz, but it's saved by rich piano and a few

well-placed growls. "Song To Bobby," the record's only new original, is an

homage to Bob Dylan, evoking him literally ("Backstage pass in my hand / Giving

you my heart was my plan") and stylistically. Fervent Dylan-fawning is common enough

(Marshall first covered him in 2000, and takes on "I Believe In You" here), but

"Song To Bobby" is teeming with total devotion, meaning it also makes a pretty

convincing love song. Ultimately, Marshall's knack for rearranging and her adulation

for the artists at hand make Jukebox almost as compelling as an original confession.