Blues prodigy's world is music
By Deb Nahrgang

Blues lovers are flocking to hear Kid Jonny Lang play, much like young Elvis groupies flocked to
hear The King.
It doesn't seem to matter to Lang's fans that, at 14, he isn't old enough to drink in the bars he plays
in three to four times a week.
The Roseville, Minn., teen, originally from North Dakota, has been called a blues prodigy.
However, Lang turns the spotlight away from himself - focusing the light on the entire band, (Kid) Jonny
Lang & The Big Bang.
No longer a newcomer to the music scene and nearly 15 (his birthday is Monday), Lang is trying to
drop the kid in "Kid Jonny Lang."
Lang, a vocalist, guitar player and songwriter, isn't a conventional "kid" anyway. He is educated by
a tutor so he can concentrate on his music - his favorite subject.
Questions about his likes and dislikes in food, movies and television - apparent by counting his
ummmms - are much more difficult.
But ask him about his favorite blues artist, and Lang rapidly fires off names like Albert Collins, B.B.
King and Buddy Guy.
"Everything kind of revolves around music," Lang said. "If I wasn't playing, I'd want to be writing
it or producing it or doing something with it."
What he lacks in age, he makes up for in dedication.
"It's my life and it's what I have always wanted to do," Lang said. "It's my priority. I'm going to
remain doing what I do, generally, and see how far that goes.
"If a million people like me or nobody likes me, I'm still going to keep doing it."
Lang explains that he got a guitar from his father for his 13th birthday and started in a band four to
five months after that.
"At first, oh boy, I was quite horrible," he said, adding that he practiced many long hours. "I was
really bad like the first six months, and then I was just bad after that, and then I got a little better."
He said the blues he and his band play "isn't like totally authentic, just straight-ahead delta blues ...
It's more of a Stevie Ray Vaughan approach."
Several of their songs are originals - some written by Lang.
"The lyrics that I write for my songs are always pretty heartfelt," he said. "I think any good writer
... just writes about what they're feeling. My earlier stuff was just kind of experimental."
He gives the example of "Lovin' My Baby," which he said "is about how this guy would wait on his
woman hand and foot."
Giving a laugh and clearing his throat, Lang said, "I've never really had to do that."
Now, he calls his writing the music of his mind.
"One I'm writing now is about the way the world is going - just people being closed-minded," he
said. "I kind of take a view from the side of things, instead of being very blunt about it, so it's kind of poetic.
So I trick people into thinking I'm smart or something."