Jonny Sings the Blues
By Chris Riemenschneider

The thrill is on for a 16-year-old with a voice and guitar worthy of MTV and a Hard Rock Cafe tour.

SAN ANTONIO--Four years ago, Jonny Lang probably would have enjoyed seeing the
autographed Stone Temple Pilots guitar on the wall of the local Hard Rock Cafe more than the nearby Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar. It was the late bluesman's old Stratocaster, though, that caught the 16-year-old blues prodigy's eye last week at the restaurant, one of a dozen Hard Rocks that Lang is playing on a brief tour. He'll be at the Hard Rock in Los Angeles on Saturday, in Newport Beach on Sunday and Universal City on April 8. It isn't just the memorabilia the teenager likes at the Hard Rocks, though. Lang--whose debut album, "Lie to Me," is already No. 2 on the Billboard magazine blues chart--also appreciates the all ages policy. "I hope a lot of people my age do come out to see me," the blond, blue-eyed singer and guitarist said before his set here. "And if just one of them goes out after my show and buys a B.B. King or Albert Collins record, then I've done my job." The truth is, most 16-year-olds are still listening to Stone Temple Pilots, the rock band that convinced Lang he wanted to play guitar when he heard its "Plush" single when he was 12. He discovered the blues, though, soon after receiving a guitar for his next birthday. Lang's father, who once tried to make a living as a musician, paid for lessons with one of the best blues musicians in
their native Fargo, N.D. Within a year, the youngster was fronting his guitar teacher's band: Kid Jonny Lang & the Big Bang. By 15, he had parted ways with Big Bang and moved with the rest of his family, including three younger sisters, to Minneapolis because his parents wanted him closer to a large music scene. He signed a four-album deal last year with A&M Records. Al Cafaro, chairman of A&M, said the label is interested in the young prodigy with long-term potential in mind, not short-term fame. "We never thought, 'Oh, he's good for a 16-year-old,' " Cafaro said. "We thought he had an amazing talent, matched with a charisma and stage presence, that could make him a star for a long, long time." A&M, however, isn't ignoring the marketing possibilities that a 16-year-old blues musician could