Event Details
Date: Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Start Time: 8:30 PM
Event Type: Concerts, 4th of July, Live Performance, Show
Last Updated: June 27, 2012
Views: 26
K.D Lang And The Siss Boom BangSpecial GuestThe Milk Carton KidsK.D Langk.d. lang is that rare performer who, over 25 years as a major-label artist, has matured before our very ears. The Western Canada native launched her career with a blend of country-rock stylings and playfully punk-like attitude, by turns whimsical and subversive; back then, she practically put the alternative in alt-country. But from the very beginning, her bravura singing belied her kitschy cowgirl outfits and spiky hair; anyone lucky enough to attend very first appearance in the United States, on a triple bill of unsigned artists at New York City's Bottom Line, could hear that she was marked for greatness.After independently releasing A Truly Western Experience; on a Canadian label in 1984, which generated serious major-label interest in the States, lang joined Sire/Warner Bros. at the behest of Seymour Stein for her 1987 U.S. debut, Angel With A Lariat, produced by one-time Rockpile guitarist Dave Edmunds and cut with her then-band the Reclines. 1988 follow-up Shadowland brought langrather daringlyright to the heart of Nashville for a countrypolitan-themed collaboration helmed by legendary producer Owen Bradley, mentor to lang's idol, Patsy Cline, as well as to Brenda Lee. (In fact, Lee, Loretta Lynn, and Kitty Wells make a guest vocal appearance on the album's "Honky Tonk Angels' Medley.") Though the Nashville establishment may have remained skeptical about lang, Shadowland reached #8 on the Billboard Country album chart.But lang wasn't looking to be pigeonholed. Her 1989 Grammy Award-winning Absolute Torch and Twang (Best Female Country Vocal Performance) combined her love of country with increasingly sophisticated, emotive torch singing typified by "Pullin' Back the Reins." With the 1992, platinum-selling Ingenue she had fashioned a soundif not a genreall her own: an elegant and impassioned adult contemporary approach. That yielded her biggest hit, "Constant Craving," as well as another Grammy, this time for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. On subsequent releases, lang continued to both fine-tune and expand the parameters of her songwriting and her repertoire. All You Can Eat (1995) was the most experimental, as challenging as it was fun; the smoking-themed Drag (1997) underscored her gifts as an interpreter, utilizing material by composers ranging from Steve Miller and Air Supply to Jane Siberry and Andre and Dory Previn. Invincible Summer (2000) was perhaps her most sultry, a collection featuring bossa nova inflections and dreamy electronics.