Margarita & Salsa Festival: Part 2
Category: Local... Music...
Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 07:31 AM [GMT-6]

If you're just tuning in, we're continuing our report from last Saturday's Margarita & Salsa Festival in downtown Midland, where Leon Russell, Jonny Lang, and Delbert McClinton provided several hours of live music for an appreciative crowd. Part 1, covering Russell's act, is here.

By the way, I'm less than impressed with the response time for YouTube to process and activate the video clips I've uploaded. Those linked below were uploaded around 4pm yesterday and as of this writing (16 hours later), are still awaiting processing. If you aren't seeing the YouTube video links below, I've provided alternate links to the original QuickTime movie files. The alternative movies are higher quality than the YouTube-rendered videos, for what it's worth.

Jonny Lang is a musical prodigy. At 26, he's still just a kid, at least as far as the blues genre goes, but his voice and guitar skills are a match for anyone in the business. My first encounter with Lang was his appearance in the uniformly awful Blues Brothers 2000; he was 17 when the movie was released, and he was a wild child apparently born with a guitar in his hand. I never saw him again until last Saturday night.

Jimmy compares him to a Joe Cocker/Stevie Ray Vaughan hybrid, and while I bow before the Jimster's superior musical intellect, I think that the only thing Lang shares with Cocker is his ability to become totally immersed in his music. But there's no doubt that Lang, as our friend Toni put it Saturday night, "has a voice made for the blues."

As with the previous installment, I'm providing some horribly amateurish video clips to go along with this report. Here's one focused on Lang himself:

Lang has surrounded himself with some fine musicians. Here are clips of his backup singer and rhythm guitarist. The former could easily front his own group, and the latter's immaculate control is a great complement to Lang's more free spirited riffs.

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Of course, what concert would be complete without a drum solo?

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And, finally, here's the whole ensemble, performing a portion of Faithful:

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Much has been made about Lang's conversion to Christianity, and his music reflects that change. The instrumentals are as driving as ever – there's nothing the man can't do with a guitar – but the lyrics, while still bluesy, speak more often to redemption, hope, and positive change. He's not overtly evangelistic, but he's putting out a message of optimism that's a pleasant contrast to many on the contemporary music scene. (His latest album, Turn Around, contains some traditional Gospel tracks, some of which are getting airplay on XM Radio's Contemporary Christian channel as well as on Air1.)

Lang and his group played for more than an hour, leaving the stage to a standing ovation shortly after 10:00 p.m.

Next up: Delbert McClinton and his classic Texas blues