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kd
lang, is a big favourite of mine. Her two
outstanding albums "Ingenue" and "All you can eat"
contain some of the most lush and crafty
songs produced by anyone this
decade.
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b.
Kathryn Dawn Lang, 1962, Alberta, Canada. She prefers the
lower case appearance of her name because ‘it's generic
and unlike Cherry Bomb, it's a name, not a
sexuality’.
This
farmer's daughter had become a skilled pianist and guitarist
by adolescence and, on leaving school, scratched a living in
the performing arts, classical and avant garde music, before
choosing to sing country—a genre that she had once
despised as the corniest in pop. However, forsaking much of
its rhinestoned tackiness for a leaner, more abandoned
approach on A TRULY WESTERN EXPERIENCE, she moved from a
Canadian label to Sire Records. She was known for her
slightly skewered sensibility and a tough backing combo
consisting in 1983 of Gordon Matthews (guitar), Ben Mink
(violin/mandolin), Mike Creber (piano), John Dymond (bass)
and Michel Pouliot (drums). She named them the
Reclines—a genuflexion towards Patsy Cline.
Overseen
by Dave Edmunds, ANGEL WITH A LARIAT was favoured by
influential rock journals like Rolling Stone (who voted k.d.
Female Vocalist of the Year) but many country radio stations
refused to play it, prejudiced as they were by lang's spiky
haircut, vegetarian stance and ambiguous sexuality (she
would only go public on the latter subject in a June 1992
interview with Advocate magazine). Nevertheless, she charted
via "Cryin'," a duet with Roy Orbison for 1987's Hiding Out
comedy movie soundtrack.
The
following year, she gained a breakthrough with the lush
SHADOWLAND which was rendered agreeable to country consumers
through a Nashville production by Owen Bradley and the
presence of the Jordanaires, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Kitty
Wells and other credible guest stars. Tracks such as the
tearjerking "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" and Chris Isaak's
"Western Stars" exemplified what lang described as
‘torch and twang’—an expression incorporated
into the title of her next collection.
Mostly
self-composed with Mink, it set the seal on the grudging
acceptance of her by bigots and, more to the point,
confirmed her as a behemoth of country's New Tradition. In
1992, she became newsworthy and featured in dozens of
magazines in Europe and the USA; having
‘discovered’ Garth Brooks they finally picked up
on the considerable talent of k.d. when the acclaimed
INGENUE was released.
This
excellent release was however, far removed from country,
C&W or new country, it was a sensual and deep collection
firmly putting her in sight of major honours. The same year
showed lang as possessing a promising acting ability in her
debut film role in Salmonberries. 1995's ALL YOU CAN EAT
continued in the same rich vein as INGENUE
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