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<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nBy Jeff Tamarkin<\/b><\/p>\n
At 33, Jonny Lang has been recognized as a master guitarist and vocalist for nearly two decades. A teen prodigy with a 40-year-old voice when he cut his debut album Smokin\u2019<\/i> in 1995, he\u2019s grown up in the public eye\u2014and so has his music.<\/p>\n
In his early years Lang made his mark playing and singing blues-rock. He was so gifted he was taken under the wing of giants like Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood. In recent years he\u2019s brought a new level of sophistication and depth to his music. Never has that been more apparent than on Fight for My Soul<\/i>, Lang\u2019s latest release. Musically, the Grammy winner incorporates more mainstream R&B and pop polish, but his maturity is displayed in his lyrics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some cases they\u2019re metaphorical but in others they\u2019re literal,\u201d says Lang of the album\u2019s 11 songs, most co-written with co-producer Tommy Sims. \u201cIt\u2019s probably my most personal record. Each one is different, but that\u2019s not on purpose. I don\u2019t do a whole lot of steering in any one direction. And if something isn\u2019t happening right away I just scrap it. There\u2019s nothing I hate more than laboring over something that\u2019s supposed to be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fight for My Soul<\/i> is the seventh album for the Fargo, N.D., native, and his first studio release since 2006\u2019s Turn Around<\/i>. His sabbatical from recording was a carefully planned decision, with reasons close to home. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to miss the first years of my four kids\u2019 lives and be that dad that they have no memory of,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Once he was ready to return to the studio, Lang says, he and Sims looked at \u201cabout 50 songs that were lying around. A lot of the lyrics were written toward the end, or they took a different form than I had originally planned on. Tommy helped me write the lyrics on a lot of the songs, and some were ones that he brought that were almost finished.\u201d From his home in L.A., Lang discussed his new album, his early years, and his admiration for Justin Bieber.<\/p>\n
Was it hard getting back into the writing groove after a seven-year break?<\/b><\/p>\n
When I\u2019m writing by myself, I have to wait for it to happen. I\u2019m not somebody who can sit down and say, \u201cI\u2019m going to write now.\u201d But when I\u2019m writing with somebody we can bounce off each other. I\u2019ve known Tommy for maybe 15 years and we\u2019ve always written together. I always wanted to do\u00a0a record with him.<\/p>\n
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What\u2019s behind the title?<\/b><\/p>\n
It refers in an abstract way to things I\u2019ve felt in my life. \u201cFight for my soul\u201d is a thread that runs through the songs. It\u2019s a good descriptor of the record. I always try<\/i> to come up with an album title that\u2019s not the title of one of the songs, although it always ends up being titled after one of the songs.<\/p>\n
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What is the title track about?<\/b><\/p>\n
The idea came to me about a little girl whose mom is a prostitute and her mom\u2019s mom was a prostitute\u2014that\u2019s her life and all she\u2019s ever known. But one day something hits her and she says, \u201cI don\u2019t have to do this. There\u2019s something inside of me that wants to be what I am, and I\u2019ve got to fight for that.\u201d We all go through a point when we\u00a0decide what to take with us from our childhood and what to leave behind so we\u00a0can become our own person.<\/p>\n
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Do you write songs ready to record?<\/b><\/p>\n
The songs exist in our heads. There isn\u2019t much preproduction. There\u2019s no, \u201cHere\u2019s the template, guys.\u201d We just play a song for the band on acoustic guitar or piano and let the musicians do what they want.<\/p>\n
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Are you hands-on in the studio?<\/b><\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know enough about it. Even though I\u2019ve been around it all these years, there\u2019s no reason for me to get all up in there. That would just slow things down. But I am busy barking at people.<\/p>\n
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Are you trying to make hits?<\/b><\/p>\n
I would like for there to be one or two songs on an album that get played on the radio. But I have gotten caught in the trap of trying to create music for that purpose. I just let it be what it is, and if it ends up being a radio hit then that\u2019s a bonus.<\/p>\n
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What drew you to a musical career?<\/b><\/p>\n
I remember watching the Motown 25<\/i> TV special and all those amazing artists\u2014Michael Jackson doing his moonwalk. That was the defining moment for me: I want to do that. Later I started taking lessons from a fellow my dad knew who was in a blues band in Fargo. When I was 13 they wanted me to audition to be their singer. I also played a little bit of rhythm guitar, but I got better at guitar as time went on. Being in a good band right off the bat was important. If I had been sitting in my room listening to records and trying to play like other people, I wouldn\u2019t have progressed as quickly as\u00a0I did playing live.<\/p>\n
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What was it like being noticed by\u00a0<\/b>Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy at such a young age?<\/b><\/p>\n
I can\u2019t even explain. I never get over that. It freaks me out, and not because they\u2019re celebrities, but because others who are so good at what they do would consider me someone they want to hang with musically. It\u2019s such a huge compliment. To be this little white kid and have someone like Buddy Guy wanting to play with me. I\u2019m thinking, \u201cDo I even have a right to play this music?\u201d But Buddy said, \u201cDon\u2019t ever let anybody tell you that. It\u2019s not about that.\u201d He never treated me like a little kid. From that moment on, if Buddy Guy said it was OK, nobody would ever be able to tell me anything else.<\/p>\n
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What\u2019s the future of the blues?<\/b><\/p>\n
There weren\u2019t singers who were trying to be like Billie Holiday for 40 years, and suddenly in the \u201980s all these female jazz singers started claiming Billie Holiday as their main influence. She was always there waiting to be found, and I think that\u2019s the same with blues. It will always be there, and someone will always come around to pick it up. That said, once Buddy Guy and<\/p>\n
B.B. King and a few other guys are no longer with us, it\u2019s gone, man. Not that nobody\u2019s going to do the blues justice but it\u2019s unique because it\u2019s as much of a cultural thing as it is a musical thing. There aren\u2019t going to be any more guys that grew up in that era, who went through what they went through culturally\u2014and the music was birthed out of their experience. When they\u2019re gone, we lose that part of history. We\u2019re all standing on their shoulders.<\/p>\n
Have a favorite singer?<\/b><\/p>\n
I have two\u2014Stevie Wonder and James Taylor. They sound different, but there is something about them that is so identical to me. There\u2019s music you listen to in the background and then there\u2019s medicinal music. These are more medicinal\u2014if I\u2019m going through something I can put one of those guys on.<\/p>\n
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Recall a favorite gig?<\/b><\/p>\n
I got to sing a Stevie Wonder song when he was being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He asked us to do \u201cLiving for the City,\u201d and I was so nervous. I couldn\u2019t even think straight. I got up there and I\u2019m looking at Stevie, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack and Sam Moore\u2014all of my heroes. I don\u2019t even remember what happened next. I was so afraid\u2014but I got it done! That was one of\u00a0the greatest honors ever.<\/p>\n
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You\u2019re a Justin Bieber fan<\/b>.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve gotten so much flak for that. (laughs<\/i>) My kids had me watch a documentary on him when he first started, and he\u2019s literally a genius. He\u2019s not some cute kid who\u2019s been picked up and processed by the machine. There are elements of that pop machine at work, but he is a legit singer. I watched that and it turned me into a fan. I\u2019m not crazy about some of the tunes. But there\u2019s going to come a day when he makes his artist record, and it\u2019s going to blow everybody\u2019s mind. Now he\u2019s just a kid with money, and he\u2019s made questionable decisions. But one day he\u2019s going to find his center\u00a0and slay the dragon.<\/p>\n
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