Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

LANG, Jonny

(b Jon Gordon Langseth Jr., 29 January 1981, Fargo North Dakota) Blues guitarist and singer. He started playing the guitar at age 12, after his father took him to see Fargo's Bad Medicine Blues Band. He took lessons from Ted Larsen, the band's guitar player, and several months later he joined the band, re-named Kid Jonny Lang and the Big Bang. The band moved to Minneapolis and independently released the album Smokin' in 1995, when Lang was still only 14. He was signed to A&M Records in 1996 and released the multi-platinum solo album Lie to Me in early 1997, winning him a cameo in the film Blues Brothers in 2000.

Despite his youth, his voice sounded like that of 40-year-old blues veteran, containing a harshness tempered by a fine falsetto, and his scorching guitar solos won him recognition. Lang's next album, Wander This World '98, earned a Grammy nomination, and in 1999 he played at White House for the Clintons and their guests. Lang was married in 2001 to longtime girlfriend, actress Haylie Johnson, and they lived in Los Angeles. The next album, Long Time Coming in 2003, had a more soulful quality.

Eric Clapton asked Lang to play at the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival, raising money for the Crossroads Centre Antigua. Lang has toured with such luminaries as the Rolling Stones (on their No Security tour), Aerosmith, B.B. King, Jeff Beck, and Sting. From 1995 to 2004 Lang's backing band included Paul Diethelm on guitar, Bruce McCabe on keyboards, and Billy Thommes on drums. Bassist Doug Nelson was killed in a traffic accident in 2000, and was replaced by Billy Franze. Saxophonist David Eiland was added in 2000, providing Lang with a foil for extended instrumental jams. In 2005, Lang revamped his band with all new members, except for bassist Jim Anton, who had replaced Franze in 2003, and embarked on an acoustic tour. Houston native Charles Jones played keyboards, while new guitarist Reeve Carney pulled double duty as the Lang band's opening act at several shows in 2005 and again in 2006. Turn Around was Lang's new album in 2006.

Lang's promise as a bluesman seems to have waned. The DVD Live At Montreux 1999 was reviewed in Blues Revue at the end of 2008, and the magazine said that it was evidence of what once was, describing his last couple of albums as 'bland pop rock'.