Lang, Jonny

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JONNY LANG

Born: Jonathon Langseth; Fargo, North Dakota, 29 January 1981

Genre: Blues, Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Lie to Me (1996)

Hit songs since 1990: "Lie to Me"

Jonny Lang's sudden emergence onto the blues scene in 1995 was a deviation from the seasoned path customarily blazed by other well-known blues artists. Hailed as a guitar prodigy, Lang was already touring with major acts such as B.B. King, the Rolling Stones, and Aerosmith by age sixteen, earning raves for his tasteful guitar skills and spirited vocal work. Lang's age is not the only anomaly: His childhood was spent in a North Dakota farm town, Casselton, which rests on the fertile soil of the Red River Valley—not exactly a renowned cornerstone of the blues. Further breaking the mold are his throaty vocals that bring to mind the burden of a seventy-five-year-old man, not the muse of a skinny Scandinavian kid with a teen idol's face. However, as soon as his second album, Lie to Me (1996), gained national release, Lang's standing in the blues community rose from novelty performer to an accepted and serious artist. Lie to Me has sold over 1 million copies.

Lang began playing the guitar at the age of thirteen after his father took him to a concert of local blues bands in Fargo, North Dakota. Inspired by one of the guitarists, Ted Larsen of the group Bad Medicine, Lang dropped an earlier notion to become a saxophonist and sought the guitarist out for private lessons. Soon thereafter he was fronting Bad Medicine, renamed Jonny Lang and the Big Bang, as lead guitarist/singer. Lang's band moved to Minneapolis/St. Paul and recorded an independently released album titled Smokin' (1995), which sold over 25,000 copies on first release—a major success for an independent label. Smokin' caught the attention of major record companies and after a bidding war A&M Records promptly signed him. Lie to Me was released a day before Lang's sixteenth birthday.

After receiving highly favorable reviews for Lie to Me, Lang was selected Best New Guitarist in Guitar Magazine 's readers poll. He appeared with guitar legend Jeff Beck at the 1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and can be seen performing the song "6345789" with Wilson Pickett and Eddie Floyd in the film Blues Brothers 2000 (1998). In 1998 Lang released his third album, Wander This World, and again received praise from critics. Wander This World features R&B and rock ballad textures in lieu of the straight blues from his earlier recordings. Heavily influenced by the Motown records that he sang along with as a child, Lang has indicated that his future music ventures might incorporate even more R&B and funk.

Distinguished by an effusive "no holds barred" style of performing, Lang growls out his vocals, contorts his face, and twists his body, seemingly "wringing out" the blues when he plays. The sense of incongruity created by the difference between his grown-up sound and his adolescent look continues to fascinate an audience that ranges from preteen idol worshipers to veteran fans of classic blues. Lang's commitment to the blues has turned skeptics into believers and garnered praise from venerable blues artists such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and the late Luther Allison—all of whom he has shared the stage with at various junctures. In 2002, while other musicians his age were focusing on varieties of fad-driven alternative rock, Lang remained faithful to his blues roots, giving certain assurance that the blues would be carried into future generations.