One woman's enchanting interpretations of two of the mightiest male singer-songwriters

This is the one about the three Jews who walked into my heart and wrung it out with the beauty of their song. As long as I can remember, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen have been part of my life’s soundtrack. Dylan’s harsh music of protest becoming softer over the years and Cohen’s, for this listener at least, music for sharing love.

The third Jew? That’s Barb Jungr of course. As a singer-songwriter herself, she's no slacker and often in collaboration – long-term with Michael Parker. Together they helped form a line-up that included Jewish comics Arnold Brown and Alexei Sayle, and won the Edinburgh Fringe’s prestigious Perrier Award in 1987.

Born in Rochdale, Lancashire, to immigrant parents – her father a Czech doctor, her mother a German nurse – Jungr was brought up in Stockport and attended a convent school. In the 1970s, her musical life included performing new-wave versions of gospel songs with Parker and Jerry Kreeger.

Her albums reinterpreting Dylan and Cohen, enthusiastically received by the critics, include Hard Rain: The Songs of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen (working with Simon Wallace) – a radically beautiful exploration of Dylan and Cohen’s political and philosophical songs.

“It’s now time for love,” she says. “How to love more and with more freedom. How to love everyone and everything.” The result is Forgetful Heart: Dylan and Cohen and Love. Now, along with the albums, comes the chance to make memories of Jungr’s intimate live shows as she tours the UK from July to November. Alongside several dates of this perfectly curated programme of nine iconic numbers, there are dates concentrating on just one or other of these two greats.

I was fortunate enough to get an online preview of Forgetful Heart. The curtain rose on a scene at once sophisticated and intimate: a woman with a warm clear voice welcoming her audience. She wears a glamorous frock (and comfortable shoes). She leans on the piano – where her accompanist Jenny Carr sits, apparently equally relaxed. We are listening to just one voice and one piano encompassing all the poetry and music of two legendary wordsmiths.

Jungr's shtick between numbers is joshing and self-deprecating. For Dylan’s title song, 'Forgetful Heart', she fetches a harmonica, revealing that it’s some time since she last played it, then making a fine fist of the instrumental riff. Her take on Cohen is especially poignant because he's not here anymore, but every word rings true for me. Her interpretation of 'Famous Blue Raincoat' has both familiarity and a sense of discovery in this new simple version, without Cohen’s signature female backing singers, featuring just one woman’s stunning voice and a piano. This is Cohen as storywriter, with Jungr as storyteller.

Storytelling is indeed another strength. She tells a lovely tale about her Stockport debut, which she made at a 1971 poetry evening in a big old fur coat and dangly earrings. The audience are treated to a delicious personal reminiscence about seeking Dylan’s home in Malibu on a USA road trip. Her punchy delivery of 'Dance Me to the End of Time' is entirely her own and an apt closing number. I wish I’d been at that Stockport gig, but I’m just glad I got to share this latest outing, albeit virtually. Now I’m looking for a chance of catching Jungr – and the magnificent Carr – live, and hopefully pulling off that glam frock and comfy shoes combo with equal panache.

By Judi Herman

Forgetful Heart: Dylan and Cohen and Love runs until Sunday 21 November at various venues across the UK. For dates, see What’s Happening or barbjungr.co.uk.