Lang ranked No. 33 on VH-1’s 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll, and clocked in at No. 26 on CMT’s
40 Greatest Women in Country Music — one of just eight women to appear on both lists.
During her current tour, backed by a crack
seven-piece band, lang performs Ingénue
in its entirety, in sequence, opening with the
languid “Save Me” and winding her way to
the climactic closer, “Constant Craving.”
She rounds out the show with other songs
that are meaningful to her, including Joni
“Hallelujah.”
Despite what you may remember about
-
soned lang insists that the music needs to
speak for itself.
“Honesty, vulnerability and presence are
the ingredients of performing live,” lang
says. “I think I have the capacity, the experience
and the wisdom now to maintain
internalized record like Ingénue.”
It has been quite a ride indeed for an
erstwhile Patsy Cline cover artist from Ed-
the Reclines as a salute to her ill-fated idol
A Truly Western
Experience, was released only in Canada
Angel with a Lariat, was distributed in the
46 artsLife | FALL 2018
U.S. Although it was critically praised, it sold
only modestly.
Still, an energetic lang earned international
exposure the following year when,
introduced as “the Alberta Rose,” she performed
“Turn Me Round,” a hoedown-style
cut from Angel with a Lariat, at the closing
ceremonies of the Winter Olympics held in
and around Calgary, Alberta.
legendary Roy Orbison. The quiet man with
the ethereal voice chose lang to be his
duet partner on a re-recording of “Crying,”
which was slated for use in the soundtrack
Hiding Out.
The stunning collaboration won the pair
a Grammy in 1989 for Best Country Collaboration
with Vocals. By now, lang appeared
to be gravitating toward a yet-tobe
named genre later dubbed alt-country.
She won the Canadian Country Music
for three consecutive years, and released
Shadowland, an album of torchy country
standards produced by the iconic Owen
memorable sessions.
Another country collection, Absolute Torch
and Twang, won a Grammy for Best Female