Blues heal Jonny on his road to retribution

[1]

He started his career at 13 and won a Grammy nomination at 17. Then he went silent for five years and finally won a Grammy at 28. Teen prodigy and exceptionally gifted blues musician Jonny Lang’s musical journey has been historic. “At the start of my career I was playing with much older musicians. In retrospect, working with each one of the musicians contributed in making me the artiste I am today,” says Lang, humbly.
Lang, 30, has had to handle over-vaulting success very early on in his career and is honest about the phase of drug addiction that threatened to derail his life. For five years, Lang produced no music and went through a personal upheaval. He returned a Christian with a stronger sense of belief and philosophy in his music. “In America, it’s quite easy to get what you want,” he says, adding, “After a point, you obviously lose focus. I started getting distracted and then I finally reached a stage where I wanted to know why I was doing this in the first place. Then I chose to live rather than die an addict. So I came clean.”
From being indifferent to religion, Lang ended up deeply spiritual and introspective. “The biggest lesson I learnt from this phase was about being grateful for what I have and not taking my family, friends or even my talent for granted. That shows in my songwriting and composing,” he adds.
Lang won a Grammy for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album for Turn Around. Much of his music oscillates from blues to gospel to rock. How relevant is the genre today or is it some rite of passage for rock ‘n’ roll musicians? Lang explains, “From a historical standpoint, the blues genre is extremely important. It is the root of a lot of genres of music and is not just a starting point — it continues to hold its own even today. But if you look at it today, the way the blues is performed is very different from what it was earlier. A musician in the 30s would be very dismissive of what is being played now. Blues is a lot of different things to different people. It is important that people come forward and get themselves involved in this genre.”
His involvement as a talented vocalist and guitarist is undoubtedly deep. Yet when he assesses himself, he is inclined towards his guitar playing skills. “I am more a blues guitarist than vocalist. Culturally, I’m not a blues artiste. As a kid, I listened to Stevie Wonder and Motown stuff. Today all I know is that the blues is a very important element of who I am.”