Jeff Lang

Jeff Lang (born 9 November 1969) is an Australian guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and music producer.

Lang plays various types of guitar, both slide and standard, as well as banjo, mandolin, cümbüş and drums.

His musical vocabulary expanded to include traditional Celtic and folk elements as he began recording his own 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 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 ARIA Award 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 ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2001.

He is a three-time ARIA Award winner, for his albums Rolling Through This World (2002), Djan Djan (2010) and Carried in Mind (2012).

Lang has performed at festivals all across the world including The Dublin Blues Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Quebec City Music Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival, Fuji Rock, Glastonbury Festival, Echo Park China, Ottawa BluesFest as well as in Australia at Port Fairy, Woodford, Bluesfest Byron Bay and Womadelaide.

Lang approaches record deals on a record-by-record basis saying "I still own all my records. The early albums, like Cedar Grove, still come out through an independent distribution deal" and he picks his own musicians and how he wishes each record to sound.

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.

In 2002, Lang join 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 July 2004, Lang released his seventh studio album Whatever Makes You Happy, his first on ABC Music.

The album, became his first album to reach the ARIA top 100, peaking at number 91.

In 2005, Lang released You Have to Dig Deep to Bury Daddy on ABC Classics.

Lang said "There are a couple of instrumental things on this album that were actually recorded some years ago. They were in the background for possible inclusion on other albums. Specifically, tracks like 'And All the Snow Melted' and 'I'm Not the One Sweating Like They Just Told Me a Lie'.. had a darker mood. They didn't seem to fit on the last record. So what I did this time around was, I put them on the table first. I wanted to use these instrumental pieces. So I started with them and recorded stuff with that in mind."

In April 2005, Lang collaborated with Chris Whitley and went on to release Dislocation Blues in August 2006.

The album peaked at number 64 on the ARIA Charts.

Chris Whitley died in November 2005.

Half Seas Over was released in 2008 and Chimeradour in 2009.

All three albums were released on ABC Roots and all nominated for ARIA Awards.

In 2009, Lang collaborated with Mamadou Diabate and Bobby Singh on the album Djan Djan.

The album which was released in 2010.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010, the album won ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.

In 2011, Lang released Carried in Mind.

In 2012, Lang was presented with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's National Folk Recording Award.

Also in 2012, Lang added vocals to Maru Tarang's album Blue City.

In May 2014, Lang released the soundtrack to the TV series The Gods of Wheat Street.

This won Lang his first APRA Award at the APRA Music Awards of 2014, where he won Best Television Theme.

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.