‘Guitar prodigy’ Jonny Lang had a young start

BROOKS, Calif. – Blues man Jonny Lang started playing guitar at the age of twelve after his father took him to see the Bad Medicine Blues Band, one of the few blues bands that could be found in his home town of Fargo, North Dakota. Inspired, Lang started taking lessons from Ted Larsen, the band's guitar player. Most stories would end right there. After a few months of lessons many pre-teens would move on to other hobbies or lose interest. One of two might start their own band as a teen, playing birthday parties and family functions. Lang took another path altogether -- after several months of playing, he was dubbed a guitar prodigy and eventually joined the very same band that inspired his love for the blues and hit the road.

Things began to heat up as the group moved to Minneapolis and independently released the album Smokin' when Lang was only fourteen-years-old. At the tender age of 15, he released another album, the critically acclaimed multi-platinum Lie to Me. Things continued to get better as his next release, Wander this World, earned him a Grammy nomination. A few years and albums later, Lang's newest album, the gospel-influenced Turn Around, won him his first Grammy Award in 2006. He will perform selections from these albums in front of a Club 88 crowd at Cache Creek on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m.

The career of this guitar virtuoso has been meteoric to say the least. While kids his age were still playing high school gigs and performing in garages, he was touring with music industry giants like the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith, trading licks for more than ten years with mentors like B. B. King and Buddy Guy, played for a White House audience including President and Mrs. Clinton, and even made a cameo appearance in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as a janitor.

He’s also shared the stage with other greats such as Blues Traveler, Jeff Beck, and Sting. Eric Clapton asked Lang to play at the Crossroads Guitar Festival. Currently, he’s promoting his collaborative work on Cyndi Lauper’s new album, Memphis Blues. Through it all, he has continued to mature and improve his craft, silencing critics who dismissed him as too young with displays of his God given talent. U.S. News and World Report perhaps summed Lang up best when they lauded him for having “the voice of a grizzled blues veteran … and guitar skills to match.” There can be no better compliment for a blues man who has yet to reach the age of 30 and still has a long successful career still ahead of him.

Tickets are available now through Tickets.com on the web: www.Tickets.com or by phone: (800) 225-2277 or at: www.CacheCreek.com or Cache Creek Casino Resort at the guest services desk for $59 and $45.