In theory, some musicians should have all the predispositions to make it - a good voice, songwriting skills, musicianship, good backup, come up with good albums, tone after another, they’re even based in one of the musical hotbeds and… The best they get is a name that is somewhere in the back of the mind of aficionados and that is about it. Everything’s there, they can see the doors of success, but they never get a chance to cross the threshold. Rob Jungklas is a good case in point.
This Memphis singer/songwriter and a teacher (money’s got to be made somewhere) has so far come up with 13 consistent to good albums, his latest one, Blackbirds bearing that “unlucky” number. Rob has got a great voice, on the verge of being gruff but never across the line, his tunes are fully formed and accomplished, something, even more, to be heard on this album (The Spiritual Beauty of Material Things and Nothing To Fade, on this album, are among his best so far). His lyrics are also something that gives you food for thought and the backing is never less than accomplished. Still, very few seem to notice.
But then, it could have something to do with the fact that early on in the mid-Eighties he started more as a pop/rock musician (Godley&Creme even produced one of his videos then) before he fully transformed his style into this bluesy, soulful, or better said soul-searching Americana that even brought him backup stints with Lucinda Williams. It shouldn't have, because the music he does now fully suits him and some of them, like those already mentioned and “Shine” on this album, well, they really shine. Usually, when you have an album that could fall under that characterization as “mid-tempo” there’s always a track you can easily do without. But Rob has been along for quite a while and he obviously knows how to avoid that trap. He obviously has enough passion about his material to be able to pick the right instrumentation and arrangement to make both the music and lyrics stand out, something he does quite often on this album (Gone).
In essence a worthy release that seems to be slipping by the attention of more listeners. It shouldn’t, even though it bears that number thirteen.
