Cindy Lauper releasing a country-flavored album

Coming on May 6th is Cyndi Lauper‘s latest collection, called Detour, featuring the ’80s icons tackling some of the biggest country hits of the 1940’s, ’50s, and ’60s. The new set, which is Lauper’s 11th album, finds the Grammy, Emmy, and Tony-winning singer-songwriter duetting with such legendary artists as Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Jewel, and Alison Krauss.

Highlights on the set feature Lauper’s renditions of two classic Pasty Cline tunes, “Walkin’ After Midnight” and “I Fall To Pieces.” Lauper spoke about the songs and Cline’s influence on both her and her singing, recalling, “I spent a lot of time in my room singing with Patsy. I had to sing a Patsy Cline song — or two — because her voice was like one of my girlfriends. That’s how close I felt to her.”

• Lauper told Rolling Stone that she pushed to keep the sound of Detour as organic as possible: “My main concern was not making things clinical. I didn’t want clinical music. I didn’t want it clean. I wanted it a little dirty. I wanted the beat to be dirty and sexy. It was supposed to be a mix of R&B and country.”
• Cyndi Lauper feels that her 1980’s hits and outlandish persona actually helped the disenfranchised become part of the popular culture: “I thought it was a great thing and a great moment. And for a minute, I actually did something. I actually changed things. See, if I could do a small little thing that’s good, that’s positive, leave something that’s positive, then I feel that no matter how hard the work is, it’s worthwhile.”worthwhile)
• Cyndi Lauper will next perform on March 31st at Manhattan’s Carnegie Hall for The Music Of David Bowie concert.