I am what the music industry might term a "loyal consumer" - when I fixate on an artist, I start buying up their back catalogue and tend to keep buying their latest unless they take a sudden swoon for the worse. Jonny Lang is such an artist. I would hesitate to say his career has an arc, as that would imply that it started low, peaked, then declined again. No, his career trajectory can more aptly be described as going from the high-dive board to the bottom of the toilet bowl. He burst on the scene at the tender age of, what, 14?, playing astonishing blues with his band, the Big Bang. The track attached here (NOT the Carl Perkins Matchbox) comes from his first solo CD Lie To Me (age 15), which I pretty much love. Ok, the baby duck (me) has imprinted and continues to waddle after him through subsequent releases. But what I am following seems to get smaller and smaller and more unfocused, veering into faux-soul, faux-gospel, anthing-but-blues. And the label seems to try to be selling him as a teeny-bop idol. Each album is worse than the last, and I am going to stop buying them. Oh, I might scan the tracks on iTunes and cherry pick good ones (if there are any) but my loyalty, so poorly rewarded, is dead in the water. A poor parallel would be the career of Moby Grape, who started out fabulous, then quickly declined, but at least they had drugs, insanity and missing members to blame. Jonny has only himself.
My Trusted MOGs
same here stick with Lie to Me and Wander This World all else pretty much is sub par
Joss Stone is pretty much proving the same exact pattern
My Trusted MOGs
That was bracingly good. But now I'm kinda curious to hear what the shitty stuff sounds like....
My Trusted MOGs
Beware Great White Hopes..especially in the soul/blues category...I believe Amy Winehouse may enter this list. There nothing wrong with learnin' the blues, but to be marketed as a bluesman under 20 has got to hurt your chances. Kid could play though.
My Trusted MOGs
This is a great song -- and probably his high point.
My Trusted MOGs
Sorry, hate the recording and hate Jonny. Sure it's a great song and the arrangement cooks thanks to a killer roundup of session pros, but I've never been able to stand Jonny's overwrought vocals. And then there's the guitar - listen to this tune again and really LISTEN to his soloing. It's a shameless montage of every blues guitar cliché in the book, played with a complete absence of feel or soul. I mean really - listen to the last four notes he plays just before the first verse starts. Ugh....he sucks the energy right out of the entire intro. Then turn your attention to what he plays over the ending break - yeesh, stick that in the dictionary under "uninspired!"
Okay, I have held a grudge against Li'l Jonny ever since he came to Portland in 2000 to play the Waterfront Blues Festival - the largest blues festival west of the Mississippi, and one renowned for its "check your ego at the gate" philosophy and its dedication to raising hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to feed the hungry. In stark contrast to the standard festival vibe, Lang arrived in a semi-trailer, replaced the entire stage crew with his own entourage, and barred backstage access to anyone but his posse for the duration of his set. The stories I've heard from people who were there simply boggle the mind.
I have real issues with this syndrome of anointing young players (almost always guitarists) as The Next Stevie Ray Vaughan or The Future Of The Blues. You can learn the blues scale in an afternoon...but it takes a hell of a lot longer to learn to play the blues right.
My Trusted MOGs
So you see his career as having NO arc - it's a flatline from start to finish. LOL!
My Trusted MOGs
He's flatlining, baby! We need a crash cart....STAT!!!
My Trusted MOGs
Yes, his early stuff is brilliant, but i don't know anyone who still considers him a serious blues artist. Kind of like the Danny Bonnaduce of the blues set.
My Trusted MOGs
Aw, c'mon now...hasn't poor Danny Bonaduce suffered enough?!
My Trusted MOGs
Mousetrap, I really wish you'd stop sugarcoating your opinions.
My Trusted MOGs
You're right, Ivy...I really should try to open up more and just share what's on my mind. Dr. Phil keeps telling me I need to feel the trust in the room. I'll work on it, man.
My Trusted MOGs
Random thoughtlets: Sometimes one can be in the mood to hear a live act string together a bunch of cliches on stage with the right amount of finesse. What about classical musicians? Certain formulas are sturdy. Some of my favorite musicians probably are or were unpleasant to be around offstage. If the arc of my day tomorrow (Saturday) is flat, that would be a relief.
My Trusted MOGs
P.S. I kind of enjoyed that hubbub earlier. What does STAT mean?
My Trusted MOGs
It's kind of like "ASAP," but with more urgency because it's more modern....
My Trusted MOGs
Well, it's not like I said the John Mayer of the blues set. Bonnaduce seems downright playful by comparison.
My Trusted MOGs
Stat is short for the Latin Statim, which means, "immediately."