Jonny Lang’s first new studio album in seven years, Fight For My Soul, was released on September 17th. Lang’s songwriting on Fight For My Soul, the follow up to his 2006 GRAMMY Award-winning Turn Around, takes a major leap forward, as he explores the struggle for love and family with startling heart and depth.
“This album is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” offers Lang. “Some of these songs may surprise people, but that’s what it’s all about. It keeps it fresh, and it keeps me growing. Creatively, I think there is a lot more going on inside of me than I’ve been sharing on record so far. Much of what I’ve experienced through music and life in general is in these songs.”
Lang’s non-stop touring since the release of his 1997 major label debut Lie To Me at the age of 16, has won him a large and incredibly loyal audience along with a well deserved reputation as one of the best live performers and guitarists of his generation.
Glide Magazine caught up with Jonny Lang just days after the release of Fight For My Soul. According to Mr. Lang, he was “Somewhere on the highway. Maybe in Wisconsin?” He was in fact on the road, on his tour bus, with his wife and children – heading to Rockford, Illinois to join his mentor and long-time friend Buddy Guy at the Coronado Theater. Over the phone, Jonny was gracious, humble and open to discussing everything from his personal struggles, touring, family and of course his new album – an introspective and genre jumping record that has been received with critical acclaim.
Your online bio states that you “found your true voice” with the release of Fight For My Soul.
In a sense, yes. On this record, I feel that songwriting wise, as far as being able to say what I want to say and I wasn’t struggling nearly as much and I had a pretty clear idea as to what I wanted when I was writing, more so than past records. This time around I was lot less fearful of making a record, that in my mind – wouldn’t have rocked the boat too much. Genre wise, I’ve waited a long time to make a record where the songs were coming out of me naturally and not trying to steer it in a direction that’s more blues or something like that.
The album starts off with a bang with “Blew Up The House.” Tell me more about this song.
This song represents me pretty well. There have been times, in the last five to ten years, where I felt like I was absolutely at the end of my rope – like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. It seemed like it was the perfect storm of stress and it felt like it was getting to be too much. The song is about a guy who has just about snapped and pretty much crossed over to being a psychopath and he just decides one day that he’s going to blow up his house and start over. It’s a metaphor for starting over, mentally wiping the slate clean and forgetting everything that’s happened and starting over because it’s the only way that you can move on.
A few tracks on Fight For My Soul sound as though they reflect on society and the atrocities that plague us today. Would “Not Right” be one of those songs?
Yes, definitely. There are quite a few songs on the record that kind of have that. Today, I find myself caring a lot more. When I’ve something that I think is an injustice, I find it affecting me personally. In years past, I might have felt like not concerning myself with this or burdening myself with the problems of the world. Lately I feel that I’ve been putting two and two together, thinking about how music has really helped me in my life and I know from talking with other people that music can be an absolutely miraculous thing for them. I’ve heard people tell me that music has helped them get sober, helped through losing loved ones and hardships of every type. I just kind had this idea of if my music can mean that in someone’s life, than my music does matter. And all of this stuff going on in the world, I am a part of it and that’s worth writing about – rather than writing about some personal woes or making up a song about a relationship.
Please tell me about the song “Fight For My Soul”.
I didn’t start out with having me in mind. It started off with that first verse about a girl who is a prostitute and her mom is a prostitute and her mom was a prostitute. So it just got me thinking about the things that are handed down to us, that we’re born into and at some point in our lives we reach this kind of crossroads where we decide that I’m either going to hang on to this part of my upbringing or ditch it and become my own person. It’s a song about maybe leaving behind some of that generational mess of your family and trying to move on.
“We Are All The Same” is such a rich song with its wah wah laded intro, vocal harmonies, tones of Stevie Wonder and a solo that you really lets loose on. But there is a message behind this one, isn’t there?
I don’t want to say too much about that one, but in general it’s a conflict resolution song.
Fight For My Soul has quite an eclectic mix of songs. Was that intentional or did it happen naturally?
Yeah man. I think it was this thing of just writing the songs, letting everyone interpret the songs the way that they wanted to and not trying to tell everyone what to play too much. And I tried not to cram guitar solos in there because that’s what “needs to happen” and trying to honor the songs themselves. And I tried to let them be, arrangement-wise – what felt the best musically. When it got to the end I did put more guitar leads or parts in there but for the most part these songs just kind of came to be without too much adjusting. The creative thing is weird man. It’s like, on one hand, it’s you doing it, but on the other hand there’s something else going on and you have no idea what is. I think the more you infringe upon that unknown force that’s doing it and try to tell it what to do, the more you lose and I felt like we stayed away from that on this one more so than maybe I have in past recordings.
Tell us about recording the record.
We recorded it in a few different places but mostly at the House of Blues studios in Encino, California. I played the Tele Thinline that I’ve always played and I’ve got this Les Paul that I’ve had for years and that I love. Also, in the studio, I had this Supro Dual Tone that I used a lot. I used a National Resonator guitar a lot, which people may think is a banjo when they’re listening to the record. I played piano on a tune and bass on a song, but it didn’t make it into the liner notes for whatever reason. Surprisingly one of the best tones came from plugging straight in to this nice, old Neve sound console through my pedal board. So there’s quite a bit of guitar on the album that came from that.
How is the tour going so far?
It’s going great. We’ve worked in a couple of the new songs. We actually didn’t have time to do a proper rehearsal so we’re working up the new songs during sound checks and they’re coming along. So we should have a pretty good amount of new songs in the set.
Any highlights in regards to the album or tour thus far?
Mostly, it’s been reading the reviews from this record. , I’ll be honest, I was really worried about what the reaction was going to be. Ultimately I was pretty secure with the record, but you want people to like it. I am totally shocked with the reviews. They’re the best reviews I’ve had so far. I’m kind of overwhelmed right now. The outcome has been much better than I imagined.
How are you balancing family life with the demands of recording and touring?
Man, it’s a day-to-day thing, trying to figure out how to do it. The family is out here with me right now – sequestered in one part on the bus. It’s great to have them out here with me for about a week, otherwise I wouldn’t get to see them for about a month. I’m trying to do more of that, having them come out, because this time the touring schedule is so much heavier.
You were catapulted into the spotlight and found success at such a young age. If you hadn’t gotten that one in a million chance, what do you think that would you be doing otherwise?
I’ve thought about that and it’s very scary thought to me. I was a terrible student. There isn’t even a category for me. I absolutely hated school and was so heavily weighted towards music that nothing else mattered – so, it would be something pertaining to music. But, I don’t have any other real passions, but I do love golf. Though I don’t think that I’d be able to make any money golfing. I don’t know what else I’d be doing, so I’m very grateful to be doing this for a living.
It’s well documented that you were influenced early on by the likes of Ted Larsen, Albert King, B.B. King, Albert Collins, even Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. But, whom are you listening to now? Who has caught your attention?
I’m a huge Foo Fighters fan. But, there’s this guy in Europe. His name is Foy Vance, a singer songwriter. He’s unbelievable. The dude is just insane! I also really like Martin Sexton. I’ve really gotten into him over the past few years. There’s always somebody great out there.
