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By Linda J. Shearman |
Promises are sometimes hard to keep but K.D. Lang is working hard to deliver on hers.
At age 25, the Edmonton-based country-rock singer has already enjoyed amazing success with audiences and critics alike and has seen her star rise like a rocket on the Canadian music horizon.
When K.D. (for Katherine Dawn) was honoured with the 1985 Juno for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year, she joined past winners Carole Pope and Sherry Kean. Lang, never one to under-dress on a special occasion, accepted in a bridal gown, and promised not to rest on her laurels.
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Since then, the oddly-dressed cowgirl has been busy touring and working on new material. Ironically, her new single is a re-make of the classic country tune "Rose Garden."(I beg your pardon the lyrics say; 'I never promised you a rose garden.') It almost seems a rebuke to the high expectations she has engendered. |
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A new album, titled 'Angel with a Lariat' was released in February on W.E.A Records in Canada, and on Sire-Warner Brothers (the same label as the Talking heads, the Pretenders, the Ramones and Madonna) in the United States.
'Angel with a Lariat' was recorded in London, England, and was produced by Dave Edmunds. A second single from the album was released with a video in early March.
This will be K.D.'s second album. Her first, 'A Truly Western Experience', was released in 1984 on an independent label called Burnstead Records. It is now available through WEA Records in Canada.
Along with the Reclines, her five-piece band (Gord Matthews-guitar, Dennis Marcenko-bass, Michael Creber-keyboards, Ben Mink-fiddle and mandolin, and Miche Pouliot-drums), K.D has just wrapped up a three-week tour of Alberta. A major six-week tour of Canada, kicked off in late March, it will take Lang and the Reclines to most major cities.
After that, the group will spend June, July and August touring the United States.
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At a recent show at the Ridge Bar and Grill in Slave Lake, Alberta, K.D. appeared in her trademark cowgirl get-up and worn-out ankle boots, but without the familiar cars-eye glasses she previously sported. In energetic, almost spastic fits, she dances around the stage and mugs with the Reclines whenever the song gives her a break from singing. But when she sings her incredibly powerful voice wipes away any misgivings her off-beat image may provoke. |
"To dance is human," she tells the audience before launching into one of her original songs. 'Hanky Panky.' "To polka is divine."
The crowd takes up the challenge immediately, and soon the dance floor is packed with couples high-stepping to the rockabilly beat. It's a special night for the singer-not only is it the Chinese New Year, but her parents, who now reside in Slave Lake, are in the audience.
Occasionally accompanying herself on the guitar, KD. launches into numbers like 'I fall to Pieces', 'Write Me in Care of the Blues' and 'Pay Dirt'. She shifts between styles of country and western, rockabilly and blues almost effortlessly and manages a casual, friendly rapport with the crowd.
At one point, she begins an anecdote to introduce a song written by the bass player Dennis Marcenko. As she speaks, a guy in the crowd can be heard, mildly heckling her.
But K.D. is cool-she doesn't miss a beat.
"Hey Bud, you wanna come up here and tell this story?" she asks him.
There is a pause while the audience laughs, and then an indignant voice is heard.
"My name's not Bud, it's Tim."
K.D. continues with her story and then asks the audience to guess who wrote the song. She can't resist the last word.
"It sure wasn't Tim," she says. "He hasn't got the smarts."
The wise-cracking, fun-loving K.D. Lang was born November 2, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta, the youngest of Adam and Sudrey Lang's four children. The family moved to Consort, Alberta (population 632) when Katherine Dawn was still a baby.
Life in a small town did not turn young K.D. into a wallflower. Besides an early aptitude for music, she entertained ideas of becoming a roller derby star and drove a grain truck as a summer job.
A gifted athlete, Lang loved volleyball, basketball and other team sports. But where she really excelled was track and field. In 1979, she ranked eighth in the country for throwing the javelin.
She became more interested in country music and her first guitar was a 12-string Yamaha, bought at age 13. K.D. began playing talent shows, dances and anywhere else she had the opportunity.
While she has been labeled as a country-punker, Lang herself dislikes the title and says her music is best described as "hootenanny music."
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And despite her rough-and-ready cowgirl image, Lang is a vegetarian who loves to frequent health food stores and according to a band member, carries her own vegetable soup base on tour with her. The singer also shuns drugs, booze and cigarettes. Her athletic ability certainly shows up on stage, as she cavorts around almost tirelessly. Although Lang no longer has time for the volleyball games she enjoyed so much as a teenager, she still stays in shape by practicing Tai Chi, the Chinese art of slow movement. |
Practicing Tai Chi is probably the only time Lang ever does move slowly. If she is true to her word, this promises to be a great year.