Lang is celebrating the 25th anniversary
of Ingénue, her breakout album of adultoriented
pop songs that contains the megahit
“Constant Craving.”
lang will be honored this year with
the Americana Trailblazer Award
during the annual Americana Music
D
Festival in Nashville, Tennessee. Nobody
roots-oriented genre — more than lang,
who has always followed her own muse.
Now, lang — with her powerful mezzosoprano
voice and signature androgynous
appearance — is considered to be (almost)
mainstream. Still, she never compromised
her unique musical vision. Through
the sheer force of her talent, she simply sold
that vision to everyone else.
More than 30 years into a career studded
with hits — and a few misses — lang
now has the luxury of revisiting meaningful
milestones in her creative journey, and
taking her fans along for the trip.
September 8, at the Walt Disney Theater,
one of dozens of stops worldwide on her
Ingénue Redux tour. The show is at 8 p.m.
and tickets start at $39.50. Opening for lang
will be Slovenia-born guitar virtuoso Mak
Grgic.
Can it really have been more than 25
years since lang, 56, released Ingénue, her
breakout album of adult-oriented pop
songs that contained the megahit “Con-
Indeed it has been. The cabaret-themed
Ingénue,
Absolute
Torch and Twang, was anything but
country. But its success established lang as
far more than a quirky hillbilly novelty act.
won lang a Grammy for Best Female Vocal
Performance.
-
spired “Miss Chatelaine,” was accompanied
by a video depicting lang, uncharacteristically,
as an over-the-top femme
fatale, surrounded by bright pastel colors
and showered by soap bubbles, à la Lawrence
Welk. The song — which featured
an accordion — was nominated for a
Grammy the following year.
FALL 2018 | artsLife 45
PHOTO BY GREG ALLEN