k.d. lang turns inward

It’s been a quarter-century since Kathryn Dawn Lang got all caught up in becoming the next Patsy Cline—such a long time that lots of people don’t even realize this was the first girlish inspiration for the woman who became k.d. lang. There have been so many inspirations since then, sending her off in so many directions, it seems appropriate that lang’s concert at the Terrace Theatre on Saturday night is in support of an album called Watershed.

But the recording doesn’t look back so much as it looks inside. For the first time in all those years—as a cowgirl, torch balladeer, classic-pop interpreter and earthshaking vocal dynamo—lang has delivered an album all her own. She wrote most of the original songs, plays many of the instruments, produces the tracks and sings in a subdued style that we haven’t really heard before. More than ever before, k.d. lang is applying her vast array of abilities into the artistry of communicating.

Yet the voice that once matched Roy Orbison’s in a Grammy-winning duet of his classic standard, “Crying,” in 1989—and only a year later, sang the song solo, in a single white spotlight, in the unforgettable highlight of an all-star, R.I.P. tribute to Orbison at the Universal Amphitheater (I was there)—is still as pure and strong as ever. And don’t worry, lang will bring its force to bear on the songs from her catalogue that became hits and favorites.

On the new material, however, and as she renews her acquaintance with the nuance of other songs that she may not have really gotten to know before, lang hopes to use all those years of experience to truly share them.

“I love that I’ve uncovered that part of me,” she says. “I love to sing that way. It feels really good on the throat. It feels very natural. I think that is age and wisdom.”

K.D. LANG TERRACE THEATER | 300 E OCEAN BLVD | LONG BEACH 90802 | 562.436.366 | LONGBEACHCC.COM | SAT 8PM | $45-250

Tags: kd lang, Long Beach, Music, terrace theater