THINK of an amateur choir and you are likely to conjure up images of straight-laced church-goers with mournful voices.

But this Glasgow version, launched less than a year ago, is putting the cool into choral after taking the Scottish music scene by storm.

The Parsonage already has two record companies battling to sign it up and dozens of singers have been turned away from the group.

Its success has surprised even founder Janice Murray.

She said: "I had the notion of joining a choir but wasn't keen on the traditional ones affiliated to churches or universities so I decided to set up my own.

"I thought I would get about 15 people, but now we have 50."

The mixed choir meets at Glasgow University Research Club, Hillhead, in the West End and is thrilling audiences with a quirky set list that includes Jerry Lee Lewis' classic Great Balls Of Fire and Johnny Cash's Walk The Line.

Janice, 34, named her choir The Parsonage in honour of legendary country singer Gram Parsons, who died of a drugs overdose at the age of 26.

Well known on the city music scene, Janice, a singer and cellist, is a former member of Glasgow band Suckle with ex-Vaseline's frontman Francis McKee.

She said: "I've always liked country music and rare blues songs and I thought it would be nice to do that on a larger scale.

"I think audiences aren't used to hearing choir music that is so accessible. It's just different.

"The Glasgow public have taken us into their hearts."

Janice is tight-lipped about the record firm interest, but an EP is due out next month.

There are also plans to play summer festivals, such as Big in Falkirk, after a surprise success at last year's Indian Summer festival in Glasgow's West End.

Janice said: "We had a really positive response to Indian Summer. It's nice people are expressing an interest.

"There is a real relationship that develops between an audience and a choir as opposed to going to see a band.

"People are surprised at how affecting it can be. It's related to the amount of voices.

"Everyone has a certain amount of input in the choir.

"A lot of the singers wouldn't have had the courage to perform in public before, but they have really found their voices."

The Parsonage plays a special pre-Valentine's gig at Mono in Kings Court this Saturday.