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Article: JEFF LANG "Cedar Grove" Wind River
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 13, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Jeff Lang is a contemporary singer-songwriter from Australia whose
heart resides in the Mississippi Delta. Or at least that's the
impression he leaves on "Cedar Grove," an album ringing with the
sound of bent notes, slide guitar riffs and resonator guitars.
Like kindred spirit Daniel Lanois, Lang isn't a blues
traditionalist. He knows that the raw emotions inherent in Deep
South blues are far beyond his reach, so he draws instead on the
region's atmospherics, orchestrating his brooding ballads with
altered tunings and steel-on-steel textures. Since nearly all of the
album's 11 tunes are original compositions and Lang nearly always
comes across as sincere, he doesn't suffer any unflattering ...