Jeff Lang

Lang has performed at numerous international festivals.

• Name — Jeff Lang • Landscape — Yes • Birth Name — Jeffrey Lang • Born — 8 November 1969 • Birthplace — Geelong, Victoria, Australia • Instrument — Vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin • Genre — Folk, blues, rock and roll • Occupation — singer, songwriter, music producer • Years Active — 1986–present • Label — ABC Music • Website — www.jefflang.com.au

Jeff Lang became interested in music at age eight, when he started playing the clarinet. His early influences were AC/DC, Bob Dylan, Leo Kottke, Ry Cooder, Roy Buchanan and Neil Young. As a teen, Lang began to learn guitar and commenced performing as a blues guitarist at 17, supporting artists like Albert Collins, Rory Gallagher and Trudy Lynn. His musical vocabulary expanded to include traditional Celtic and folk elements as he began recording his material in 1990. Along with gigs in local blues bands, Lang formed the Jeff Lang Band as a showcase for his songwriting skills. The band disbanded in 1993 and he concentrated on playing solo shows. Lang said the band's disbandment was a "purely instinctive decision" and one he has never looked back from.

In 1994, Lang self-released his debut studio album titled, Ravenswood, which was followed by a live recording titled Disturbed Folk in 1995. In 1996, Lang released Native Dog Creek on Black Market Music. The album was named Best Australian Blues Album in Rhythms Magazine's readers' poll. In 1998, Lang released his third studio album titled, Cedar Grove, which was nominated for Best Blues and Roots Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 1999. In 1999, Lang released a limited edition album titled The Silverbacks with Hat Fitz. In 2001, Lang released Everything Is Still with Angus Diggs. The album was again nominated for Best Blues and Roots Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2001. In 2002, Lang joined Bob Brozman and collaborated again with Diggs on the album Rolling Through This World. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2002, the album won the ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album, Lang's first win.

In 2019, Lang released Next They Come for You, on LP. The album is an instrumental recording featuring Lang and his regular drummer Danny McKenna playing music they wrote together without restrictions, constraints. In 2020, Lang published his book Some Memories Never Die. Lang said "For Some Memories Never Die I wanted to connect recollections from the life I've lived to some of the songs I've made up along the way. I wasn't looking to write a linear autobiography, with my life's journey laid out in order of occurrence, more a series of stand-alone vignettes was what I had in mind. I wasn't sure exactly how a good many of these tales could be connected to the songs I intended to include, as I don't generally write autobiographical songs. But as I wrote down the varied reminiscences, certain stories seemed to go together and themes became apparent to me. Gradually it all seemed to find its form, and Some Memories Never Die is the result." Over the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 Lang and Alison Ferrier formed the band High Ace and released Snow Cap Menace on Furry Records in 2022.

• Title — Details — Peak chart positions • AUS • Ravenswood — * Released: 1994 * Label: Jeff Lang (JL941 CD) * Format: CD — — • Native Dog Creek — * Released: 1996 * Label: Black Market Music (BMM 206.2) * Format: CD — — • Cedar Grove — * Released: 1998 * Label: Jeff Lang (JL9801CD) * Format: CD — — • The Silverbacks (credited to Jeff Lang & Hat Fitz are The Silverbacks) — * Released: 1999 * Label: Jeff Lang (JL9801CD) * Format: CD (Limited to 500 copies) — — • Everything Is Still (featuring Angus Diggs) — * Released: 2001 * Label: Jeff Lang (JLCD2001) * Format: CD — — • Rolling Through This World (with Bob Brozman and Angus Diggs) — * Released: 2002 * Label: Jeff Lang (JLCD2002) * Format: CD — — • Whatever Makes You Happy — * Released: July 2004 * Label: Jeff Lang, ABC Classics (13930 /13932) * Format: CD, digital download — 91 • You Have to Dig Deep to Bury Daddy — * Released: 2005 * Label: Jeff Lang, ABC Classics / Warner (14500) * Format: CD, digital download — — • Dislocation Blues (with Chris Whitley) — * Released: August 2006 * Label: Jeff Lang, ABC Roots (11777790) * Format: CD, digital download — 64 • Half Seas Over — * Released: August 2008 * Label: Jeff Lang, ABC Roots (1777791) * Format: CD, digital download — — • The Blessed South (Songs by Melbourne Songwriters) — * Released: 2008 * Label: * Format: CD, digital download — — • Chimeradour — * Released: 2009 * Label: ABC Roots (2717429) * Format: CD, digital download — — • Djan Djan (with Mamadou Diabate & Bobby Singh) — * Released: March 2010 * Label: ABC Roots / Universal (2723504) * Format: CD, digital download — — • Carried in Mind — * Released: September 2011 * Label: Jeff Lang, ABC Music (2780478) * Format: CD, 2xCD, digital download — — • I Live in My Head a Lot These Days — * Released: 16 May 2014 * Label: Jeff Lang, ABC Music (3765640) * Format: CD, digital download — — • Alone in Bad Company — * Released: February 2017 * Label: Jeff Lang, ABC Music (5730477) * Format: CD, digital download, streaming — — • Next They Come for You (with Danny McKenna) — * Released: 2019 * Label: Fury Records * Format: LP — —

List of live albums with selected details • Title — album details • The Gods of Wheat Street — * Released: 12 May 2014 * Label: The Gods of Wheat Street, ABC Music * Formats: DD

List of live albums with selected details • Title — album details • Disturbed Folk — * Released: 1995 * Label: Jeff Lang (JL951CD) * Formats: CD * Recorded live at Criterion Hotel and Stooges Restaurant in Queensland in March 1995. • Live at the Vineyard (with Chris Finnen) — * Released: 1996 * Label: Crossing Record Company * Formats: CD * Recorded live at Burge Winery in April 1996 • A Crowd In Every Face – Live '96 – '97 — * Released: 1997 * Label: Jeff Lang * Formats: CD * Recorded live in various locations across 1996 and 1997. • Real Scars — * Released: 1998 * Label: Jeff Lang * Formats: CD * Bonus Disc with first 1,000 copies of Cedar Grove album. * Recorded live at The Esplanade, St. Kilda on 6 February 1998 and St. Andrews Hotel, Victoria on 18 April 1998. • Disturbed Folk Vol. 2 — * Released: 1999 * Label: Jeff Lang (JLCD 990) * Formats: CD * Recorded live in Melbourne, Sydney and Fremantle. • No Point Slowing Down (Live in the USA) — * Released: 2003 * Label: Redbird Records (RB1005) * Formats: CD * Recorded live in New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. • Engines Moan — * Released: 2009 (Japanese only release) * Label: * Formats: CD * Recorded live at Northcote Social Club, Victoria.

List of compilations with selected details • Title — album details • Prepare Me Well: A Jeff Lang Anthology 1994–2006 — * Released: 2006 * Label: ABC Music (5144214252) * Formats: CD, CD+DVD • Rarities 1994 – 2012 — * Released: 2016 * Label: Red Hair Records (8105716201501) * Formats: LP * Compilation of live, studio outtakes, demos and alternate versions.

Lang primarily plays acoustic guitars, although he has an unorthodox way of amplifying them, running a combination of a built-in microphone and a Sunrise magnetic pick-up together for his clean acoustic sound, while also running the output of the Sunrise pick-up through various effects through an electric guitar amplifier allowing him to obtain both acoustic and distorted electric guitar tones from the same guitar. This approach has been hugely influential in the Australian scene, particularly after the well-known guitarist John Butler was inspired by Lang's playing and sound to pursue a very similar setup.