Artist:     The Jorgensens

Album:     The Lexington Stretch

Label:     Self-released

Release Date:     9.27.2019

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“Walking in Memphis” was a full-blown religious experience for Marc Cohn, with a passionate gospel choir hanging on his every word and piano flourish as they made their way down historic Beale Street, intoxicated by nostalgia and lifting the song gloriously heavenward. Some of that Southern warmth and charm seems to have rubbed off on the sumptuous Americana of The Jorgensens and their stylish new album The Lexington Stretch.

The Minnesota songwriting tandem of Kurt Jorgensen and Brianna Tagg-Jorgensen seems to prefer hanging out in the French Quarter of New Orleans, though, soaking up all of its sultry romance and bluesy jazz on an LP of soft incandescent amber, buttery soul and boozy, late-night swing. References to Louisiana institutions crop up here and there, as memories of Dr. John and Lake Pontchartrain haunt the dark, seductive Creole noir and languid, gypsy-folk sweep of “Voo Doo.” And the yearning Big Easy sway of “Storyville,” ­­with its deftly plucked resonator guitar and sleepy lovemaking of saxophone and clarinet , searches for a Delta queen in the Crescent City, wistfully smiling at hearing echoes of Louis Armstrong.

The smoky torch song “Chocolate and Coffee Blues” is the record’s last call, even if it’s closer to morning than midnight when it raises its head off the bar and slurps down a satisfying cup of java. A bit of creosote stains the slightly distorted electric guitar of a moody “Unchained” and their creeping version of “St. James Infirmary,” originally written by Irving Mills and made famous by Cab Calloway, is irresistibly drawn to the seedy side of town, where Tom Waits drinks and holds court. Stark naked vocal harmonizing adds gravitas to the doomed ruminations of Willie Dixon’s “If The Sea Was Whiskey,” while “Goin’ Goin’ Gone” has a sunnier Delta blues disposition, with classy lead guitar nuance reminiscent of Keb’ Mo’ and latter-day Eric Clapton, and Brianna’s “Real Women” is a colorful burlesque show of swaggering female empowerment.

For all of its finely sculpted instrumental diversity and vintage richness, made all the more luxurious by immaculately arranged horns, crawling bass lines and full, R&B flavored backing vocals, The Lexington Stretch can sound surprisingly intimate and close. Sidle up to The Jorgensens. Their kind of slowly rendered blues is approachable and modern, and they don’t bite … usually, that is.

­­­­ꟷPeter Lindblad