JONNY LANG

It is hard to believe that at 37 years old Jonny Lang has already had a successful career for two decades. Easier to believe when you learn he released his first platinum record at 15 – an age when many young people are just beginning to play music. Lie to Me revealed a talent that transcended the crop of blues prodigies floating around in the late Nineties. No flashy re-hasher of classic blues licks, even at that early age Lang was a full-blown artist with a style of his own. Also, setting Lang apart from the wunderkind crowd was a 15-year-old voice that sounded like a weathered soul shouter. Actual life experience was yet to come, and has been subsequently chronicled in a series of five uniformly excellent recordings. “I got married, had kids, and that arc has been recorded on albums along the way,” says Lang. “There is a lot of personal history in there, and also some things that relate to world events.” What began as a bluesy sound, influenced by electric pioneers like Albert Collins, B. B. King, and Buddy Guy, evolved over those recordings into a modern R&B style closer to Stevie Wonder and contemporary gospel music. Lang’s distinctive, blues-inflected licks appeared on every album, but became one element in a sea of passionately sung and tightly arranged songs. Jonny Lang’s path has lead him to his latest recording Signs, and right here to the TD Kitchener Blues Festival. The record has been touted as perhaps his strongest yet, and shows that this artist continues to grow and evolve. AllMusic lists it as one of the best blues albums of 2017. Give it a listen and you will understand why. With a continuous offering of superb recordings, and a relentless touring schedule, Jonny Lang has shown that he is amongst the elite of Blues performers today. Please extend a warm KW welcome to Jonny and his band as they visit the TD Kitchener Blues Festival for a second time.