KID JONNY LANG & THE BIG BANG/SMOKIN’ (self-released)

In 1996 a 16-year old blues guitar wiz named Jonny Lang burst onto the music scene with his major label debut "Lie To Me" (see separate review) on A&M Records. Before A&M came to town, however, Kid Jonny Lang was practicing his chops with a band called The Big Bang. This 1995 independent release showcases an even younger Jonny Lang on both guitar and vocals. The Big Bang does include another guitarist so you can’t really tell which licks are Jonny’s but his distinctive vocal style is already well established here. Even at 14 and 15 he sounded like a 50-year old blues singer.

I expected this album to be nothing more then a Jonny Lang showcase, which is what usually happened when a single person gets the record contract. I was pleasantly surprised to hear how good The Big Bang sounds, as a whole. This album is very good in it’s own right and would be getting my recommendation even if Jonny Lang hadn’t already gone on to bigger stardom. These guys are great and certainly taught Jonny Lang a lot before he moved on. Eleven tracks of well-written and well-played blues from start to finish. My advice is to get it while it's still available!

This disc is available from Midwest Underground. (see link to the left)