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A New Era
k.d. lang reinvents her sound on Watershed
By Alan Sculley
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k.d. lang performs at two South Florida venues
March 1-2. |
k.d.lang isn’t concerned about where her music fits, to
which genre she belongs or even if she has carved out an
identifiable niche as an artist.
“I honestly don’t think about it like that. I just react
to music,” lang said in a phone interview. “I mean, I’m
certainly aware of people like Roy [Orbison] or Linda
Ronstadt or whoever … Ray Charles, singers who went from
country to blues to jazz to pop. To me, that’s like what
a singer does. I’ve never questioned that. That’s, to
me, what a singer is supposed to do. A singer is
supposed to sing songs.”
Watershed, lang’s new CD, may be the best example
yet of this open-ended approach to musical genres and
styles.
Many of her previous CDs have centered around musical
styles or a lyrical themes. She’s done pure country (the
1989 album Absolute Torch and Twang), breezy jazz
and pop (1992’s Ingenue), even a CD that leaned
toward bossa nova (2000’s Invincible Summer), as
well as an album created around a lyrical theme (the
smoking motif of 1997’s Drag).
Watershed isn’t unified in those ways. Instead,
lang brings together in one album a variety of styles
that have informed her music throughout a career that
dates back to the early 1980s. That’s when this native
of the small Canadian town of
Consort, Alberta, first made waves with a feisty brand
of country on the albums A Truly Western Experience
(1984) and Angel With a Lariat (1987).
On Watershed, there are touches of country (“I
Dream of Spring”), bluegrass (“Jealous Dog”), torch song
(“Je Fais La Planche”), bossa nova (“Upstream”), jazz
(“Coming Home”) and Burt Bacharach-styled pop
(“Sunday”).
Watershed is also one of lang’s most understated
albums. Although she has power to spare in her vocals,
lang dials back her singing and lets the rich, smooth
tone of her voice take over. The songs, which are almost
all ballads, require restraint and intimacy, and lang
treats her material gently as she croons her way through
the 11 tracks. After a period of uncertainty that
followed the Invincible Summer CD, this new one
marks a fresh start for lang. “That was a pretty
disappointing record,” said lang, 46. “It really went
over like a lead balloon and really made me question my
songwriting, question my musical direction.”
Around the same time, lang — the first major pop artist
to come out and openly discuss her lesbian lifestyle —
broke up with her long-time partner, Leisha Hailey of
the group The Murmurs. (She now shares a Beverly Hills
mansion formerly owned by Rock Hudson with a new
partner, Jamie Price.)
What helped lang regain her creative footing was an
invitation in 2001 from one of music’s greatest
vocalists.
“Almost like a white knight on a horse, Tony Bennett
pulls up and says, ‘Hey, do you want to come touring
with me this summer?’” lang said. “[Soon] I was on the
road opening for Tony, which led to Wonderful World.”
That 2002 CD, A Wonderful World, featured Bennett
and lang singing a dozen songs from jazz great Louis
Armstrong.
Still, lang wasn’t ready to write a full album.
So she again turned to outside material, this time
recording her versions of songs written by Canadian
artists (including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell) on the
2004 CD, Hymns of the 49th Parallel.
Next came work on Reintarnation, a retrospective
culled from her country albums.
Finally, lang was ready for Watershed — the first
time she ever produced herself. This step, lang said,
helped her to create exactly the kind of album she
wanted — something she said hasn’t always been the case
on previous CDs.
“I think the reason that it happened so clearly … is I
didn’t have to interpret my thoughts to someone else,”
lang said. “I didn’t have to reference another kind of
music to show somebody what I was talking about. Because
I produced it myself, I was able to just go ahead and do
it.”
Now, with her new album, lang is beginning an extensive
tour that she considers the start of a new era for her
music.
After frequent collaborators — pianist Teddy Borowiecki,
bassist David Piltch, steel player Greg Leisz and
guitarist Ben Mink — chose to stick to studio work, she
formed a new touring band that includes guitarists
Grecco Buratto and Joshua Grange, keyboardist Daniel
Clarke and bassist Ian Walker, with drummer Danny
Frankel the only holdover.
“I have to say this new band is really something else —
multitalented, young, enthusiastic guys that have just
completely reinvigorated me and my music,” lang said.
“Not only are they amazing musicians, they’re really
good singers, so I get an extra bonus by having them
sing background parts.
“They’re making me look at my music in a new way,” she
said. “So I really believe this is something special.”
k.d. lang will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 1 at
the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts,
701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Tickets are $25
to $100 at www.kravis.org or by calling
561-832-7469. lang also will perform at 8 p.m. Sunday,
March 2, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts,
Au Rene Theatre, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale.
Tickets are $36 to $76 at www.browardcenter.org or by
calling 954-462-0222.
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