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Mark Jungers is something of an aberration in the recently rediscovered world of Americana - - genuine. He was born and grew up in a small farming community and when his father passed away, he and his brothers had to struggle to keep the family farm from sliding into extinction. So when he sings about a desperate farmer who would rather burn his farm to the ground than allow the bank to foreclose on it, as he does on "Sentimental Guy," the passion-over-logic reaction is presented completely devoid of irony; instead, Jungers understands the anguish, pride, and abject hopelessness it takes to come to such a painful decision. Sometimes he'd say he found the answer He'd never let her see him lonely The same kind of unadorned honesty as well as sympathy is evident in "Conviction." The double-meaning of the title becomes more apparent with each verse as Jungers details the life of a man who continues to work his family's farm even as he watches his friends leave, other farmers around him lose everything, and the town he lives in slowly sinking into an agricultural tar pit. It is the tragedy of knowing you have nowhere else to go, and facing the inevitable with a dark optimism. Half my friends are leaving Well there's eighty acres left to plant And things don't get much better from here; in fact, just when you think he's taken you to the bottom of the valley, Mr. Jungers unveils "No Easy Way to Go," a song about a family trying to come to terms with the sudden death of its patriarch and whether or not they are capable of keeping the farm alive. Then there is the jaunty "Knoxville Girl," a traditional song about a man who murders a woman to keep from having to marry her. The only thing that really worried me about this one was how catchy I found the chorus. Hell, even a song like "Repo Outlet Mall," which sounds like it might provide at least a little beige to contrast the black, really isn't all that funny. Certainly it has a kind of gallows humor appeal, at least to me, as a family recounts their steps toward homelessness, but it's definitely not a song you'll find yourself laughing out loud over. Well first they took the sliding doors And everything we had Finally, there is "The Critic Song," which offers a slight respite from the pall and a damn good message as well. Critics always know what is best If you think you dare not, then you don't Mark Jungers deals with serious matters of loss, despair, hopelessness, fear and, in at least one instance, murder, but he does so without devolving into the realms of trite angst or romanticism. This is music for adults by an adult, so if you're not afraid of a little unvarnished reality, pick up Standing in Your Way and take a peek behind that veil. Don't worry about getting a little dirt on your hands, head
over to www.markjungers.com for a biography of the Minnesotan
with the unbelievable twang as well as to get yourself some of
his music. |
About halfway through Mark Jungers's Standing in Your
Way, two things became obvious about him: 1) for a man born
and raised in Minnesota, he has enough twang to his voice to
make Steve Earle sound positively Midwestern by comparison; and
2) he's probably not asked to play many wedding receptions.
Jungers sings about small-town life, especially the arduous and
uncertain plight of the farmer, with a gritty, unflinching reality
that can be as disturbingly bleak as it is insightful but, in
an unexpected contrast, he often cloaks his tales in music that
sounds like the Old 97s gone acoustic. The descriptions of the
people, their motivations, the places and the attitudes surrounding
all are entrenched within the confident familiarity of experience,
which only stands to reason because Mark Jungers, without question,
knows what he writes about.
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