Jonny Lang's websiteis a lot like Joe's (Page 1 of 2)

I think Jonny's site was designed by God.  Is that wrong?  Am I bitter about his musical direction? 

Perhaps direction is not the right word.  He can preach all he wants...I just wish he's go back to the sound of his first two albums. Wander This World is a thing of beauty.

Oh i do agree Wander This World was a stonkin album as was Lie To Me... My daddy introduced me to him many a year ago

By his own words Jonny was saved by an instant all encompassing spiritual transformation.  He called on a power and was answered.  Let's just wait and see.  To say more would not be appropriate on this Forum.  Artists change.  He's young.

Play that guitar man.

It's good music, but it sure ain't blues.  More like gospel or...soul or something.

wehavejoebonamassa
thankGodwedo

I like his new stuff. It's like Stevie Wonder a little bit. I think the people that don't like it don't like it cuz he's not playing "da blooze." Clapton's caught hell, Stevie caught hell, even Joe has caught hell. Jonny's amazing, and that's all there is to it. I would much rather enjoy an artist that went his own direction and did what he wanted to do as opposed to an artist that was held hostage by his fans. This is what Jonny is doing, judging by what I've read.

I think his singing is and has always been more formidable than his guitar playing. His voice is powerful. His guitar playing, as passionate as it is, has been done before. Nobody sings like him. Maybe that's why I like his new direction. If you paid a ton of attention to his guitar playing, it would be a little easier to be turned off by his new direction.

To his credit, he still pulls out the, "Oldies" at his live shows, and tears them up. Deezer nailed it though, his new stuff is very Stevie Wonder-esque (but that's not necessarily a bad thing). I've worn out my copies of Innervisions and Fulfillingness' First Finale.

His new material comes off better live than on disc.

We all go through a period where the blues isn't appealing. Especially if that's all you listen to. The only constant in my playlist is usually Stevie Ray Vaughan. Even Joe gets put on the backburner every now and then. Like now, I've just recently gotten into Gnarls Barkley (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2B6SjMh_w), a rnb group. They're amazing, and so completely different than what I'd normally listen to. Honestly, right now, I'm more interested in finding bands that are more off the beaten path than normal blues and blues/rock.

And back to Lang, I honestly feel sorry for him and people who start out being known for playing guitar. That gift becomes a curse. All of a sudden, you're pigeon-holed as the guitar player, a lot of the time only guitarists dig you, and when you play a gig all you see are guitar players staring at your fingers, where anybody will tell you that there's nothing cooler than seeing couples and women dancing to the music. So, if you decide that you don't want to play as much anymore (Clapton in the 1970s, for example) you're going to catch a lot of hell because you're not playing like you used to. That's why I'm not surprised John Mayer has taken the route he's taken. Because it's a lot easier to become known as a singer-songwriter and then show you're a rip snortin' guitar hero, than to become known as a rip snortin' guitar hero and try to do something different from that. The guitar lovers will scream bloody murder. And I say this as a guitar player.

When I choose covers for gigs I'm gonna play, I avoid Little Wing or anything else like that like the plague, as much as I love them. I choose songs that I still play a lot of guitar on, but what don't seem quite so much as "Look at me! I can play!" Songs like Mary Jane's Last Dance and Old Love by Clapton. That's why I appreciate Joe's new album so much. To get outside of the guitar playing circle, he did what he had to do. And guess what? I just recently had the realization that it's my favorite Joe album, a place that ever since I've gotten into Joe has been owned by Had To Cry Today. And it's not that he's become more mainstream, he's just made his music more appealing to a wider range of people. There's a difference between being mainstream and being appealing. Styx was mainstream. Zeppelin was appealing.

I was probably too harsh on him...I like a few of his songs on his last 2 albums...he really is made to sing, fantastic pipes!...I know he did a few shows with Joss Stone...did they ever record a duet?...just wondering

Dave

PS....he's here in a couple of weeks...playing at a casino where I saw Joe last year...told the wife, she went ga ga...then i checked the ticket prices, $35 and $45...think she's gonna make me take her