Kristin Korb was six years old when Johnny Mercer died, but they are natural collaborators. In this collection of songs with lyrics by Mercer, Kristin includes several of his biggest hits. She also takes a voyage of discovery into unpublished texts that Mercer never made into songs. “I really feel,” she said, “that it is important to document the impact of Mercer on my life and to share with folks the treasures he continues to give us with his story telling.” On Beyond the Moon, Kristin’s performances of all eleven songs thrive on elements that she and Mercer have in common; reverence for melody; phrasing and inflection influenced by the blues; understanding of the relationship of harmonies to tunes and words. In making songs of orphan texts from the Mercer archive, Kristin and Magnus Hjorth, the pianist in her trio, evoke Mercer’s powers of rhythm and rhyme. They and drummer Snorre Kirk comprise a working group in high demand in Europe, where they live, and in their US tours.