Jonny Lang

JONNY LANG
"LONG TIME COMING"
(A&M, 2003)


"Get What You Give"


Jonny Lang took the blues world by storm when he released his first major-label album, "Lie To Me", a day before his 16th birthday. Blessed with a prodigious talent for thick, smoldering guitar licks, and the voice of a grizzled blues veteran three times his age, Lang proved to be a force to be reckoned with. After taking a five-year break from recording (to, among other things, get married, and play guitar on a few tracks of Hanson's "This Time Around" album), he chose to take a more mainstream, soul/rock approach with his third album, "Long Time Coming".

The music may not be as bluesy on this album as his usual fare, but I for one don't mind at all. Lang's gravelly growl of a voice is in top form, though, and packs just as much of an emotional delivery as always, without ever seeming overwrought. From the propulsive opener "Give Me Up Again" through the breezy love song "The One I Got" and the sweet ballad "Beautiful One", to the heartwrenchingly desperate "Save Yourself" and the downright rocking "Happiness And Misery" (featuring Aerosmith's Steven Tyler on a wicked harmonica solo), the album is one heck of an emotional ride -- and a nice long one at that, with 15 tracks.

Lang got spiritual on his subsequent album, 2006's "Turn Around"; though I personally didn't care for it, it shows that he's continuing to grow as a musician and as a person. "Long Time Coming" might not be particularly profound, and might not be widely considered his best work (especially if you ask one of the blues afficionados who fell in love with his music at the beginning), but it's my personal favorite of his albums.