Overcome By The Call Of The Wild - The Music of Rob Jungklas

Rob Jungklas is an Memphis, Tennessee-based musician, singer and songwriter.

Jungklas worked in the Memphis-based music circuit for 15 years before signing a deal with Manhattan Records and releasing the album Closer to the Flame in 1986. The album contained the minor hit “Make It Mean Something” which reached #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. Another song, “Boystown,” had a video directed by Godley & Creme (in the same rapid-jump-cut style of their video for Wang Chung‘s “Everybody Have Fun Tonight“). “Hello Heaven,” another song on the album, appeared on the soundtrack of the 1987 movie The Principal.  "Memphis Thang," perhaps the strongest song on the album, still receives regular airplay in Memphis.

Jungklas recorded a second album for Manhattan that was not released; he then moved to RCA Records, where his album Work Songs for a New Moon, a far more introspective album, was released in 1989. The album was somewhat Christian-based (though not marketed as such) and not a commercial success, and he left the label. Jungklas then left the music business; he married, earned a college degree and got a job teaching English and science at the Hutchison School in Memphis. He moved to work at St. Georges Collierville working as a 7th grade science teacher.

Jungklas began playing music again in 2001, and released the excellent album Arkadelphia in 2003 on Memphis-based label Madjack Records. Its blues-based sound was a major departure from his rock-oriented 1980s releases.   His music took on a much darker sound, the lyrics still somewhat Christian-based, but certainly not joyous.  There were Hellhounds on his tail and the guitars sounded like they were being strangled while played.  Jungklas played several shows opening for Lucinda Williams in support of the album.

Jungklas released another impressive blues-based album, Gully, in 2007.  Some of the music on Gully would have fit in nicely on a Tom Waits album, and it rocked like hell.  In August 2010, he released the excellent Mapping the Wreckage.

Here are a couple of clips featuring Jungklas.  The first is the aforementioned "Boystown," which received some decent rotation on MTV in 1986.   The second clip is a live performance from April, 2009 at Otherlands in Memphis where Jungklas performs "X For My Name."