Discovering Jonny Lang

I just downloaded Jonny Lang’s latest release, Turn Around (A&M Records). He camps out on the funk side of rhythm and blues, with some urban gospel mixed in as well. He sings a duet with Michael McDonald on “Thankful,” and other well-known artists join him at points: Buddy Miller, Sam Bass, Nickel Creek violinist Sara Watkins, and Steven Curtis Chapman, five- time Grammy winner and GMA's most awarded artist.

Now if we can just get Lang and Joss Stone together for a duet. Oh my. (I stand corrected: A quick Google search put Stone and Lang together for U2’s “When Love Comes to Town” on Herbie Hancock’s Possibilities. Too bad it’s only available for download when you buy the whole album.)

Regarding Turn Around, Lang told ModernRock.com, “Outwardly, I wouldn't consider it a Christian album. But a lot of songs are about my relationship with the Lord. Because of those changes in my life, they brought about restoration and healing to some things that were going on in my life and really made me a new person.”

Jonny Lang burst onto the mainstream music scene in 1996 at the age of 15, capturing critical acclaim with two million-selling albums for A&M -- 1997's Lie to Me and '98's Wander This World. He also toured with the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Sting and had a role in the movie Blues Brothers 2000.

Lang disappeared for a while, in part because of changes at his record label, and in part because of problems with drugs and alcohol. In 2002, Lang had a spiritual transformation, reflected on his 2003 release, Long Time Coming.

Now, three years in the making and ten years into his recording career, Turn Around is getting some real praise. “Nobody has sung soul with this much passion and energy since James Brown was at his peak in the sixties,” says The Phantom Tollbooth. “The title track ‘Turn Around’ alone is worth the price of the CD. There is an extended guitar solo by Lang that ranks up there with anything you have heard from Bonnie Raiit and Eric Clapton.”

I missed his Austin concert on his current tour. But I didn’t miss out on getting the album. You shouldn’t either.

You can listen to songs at his website and his MySpace page. ChristianMusicToday.com has a good review here.