Up to now, Mandy Barnett has been best known for her work in country, including her expert conjuring of Patsy Cline's torch and twang in a theatrical musical and her recording of vintage numbers with legendary producer Owen Bradley. For Strange Conversation, she left Nashville for Muscle Shoals, Ala., and an exciting new chapter that should generate even more acclaim.
The album vividly demonstrates how a masterful singer, joined by inspired accompanists, can bend a disparate collection of material-from Tom Waits to Neil Sedaka-into a singular, compelling vision all her own. Barnett veers from the swampy, seductive groove of Mable John's "More Love" to the buoyant pop-soul of the Tams' "It's All Right," from the sultry, horns-kissed Ted Hawkins title track to the gutbucket thump of Waits' "Puttin' on the Dog."
John Hiatt duets with Barnett on the rinky-dink kitsch of Sonny and Cher's "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done," and the set ends with more twists and turns: A dreamy take on Sedaka's pop ballad "My World Keeps Slipping Away" segues into the swaggering riffage of Lee Hazlewood's "The Fool" and a raw gospel-blues take on Andre Williams' "Put a Chain on It." In other words, one thrill after another.-