It’s been 21 years since k.d. lang released her initial major-label album and created an uproar in the tradition-bound country music business. She’s consistently befuddled some, moving from her tribute band to Patsy Cline to country to torchy pop.
Lang will perform Wednesday and Thursday in Seattle.
A Canadian, she was named the most promising female vocalist at the Juno Awards in 1985. Then came the 1950s-style ballads and some honky-tonk, her Roy Orbison duet on the hit “Crying,” and Lang’s first time on the country top-40 with “I’m Down to My Last Cigarette.”
The musical nomad has had many more hits, more Grammy awards, a contemporary-pop album, work on the film adaptation of “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” more pop-oriented CDs, a duet with Tony Bennett and the blues.
Now she’s back with “Watershed,” on which she is the writer, singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer of 11 new original songs that reassess her relationship with the world and herself.
“Watershed” follows 2004’s “Hymns of the 49th Parallel,” a CD of interpretations of Canadian songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Jane Siberry.
Buckethead: Brian Carrol is in a world of his own, often crowned with an empty Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket and wearing a white mask. Fortunately, nothing can distract listeners from his guitar playing, which earned him the eight spot in Guitar One’s Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time.
This tall, prolific and enigmatic musician plays a dozen instruments for a dozen bands, including Guns ‘N Roses (2000-2004). He has ties with seven other bands, allowing him to race across thrash metal, funk, avant-garde, jazz, instrumental rock, electronica and progressive metal.
Buckethead has collaborated with many musicians, including Les Claypool and Iggy Pop, in addition to performing music for several movies, including “Saw II,” “Mortal Kombat” and the “Last Action Hero.”
Marcia Ball: The blues pianist-vocalist arrives with a trunk full of awards. She has a Grammy-nominated live CD (“Live! Down the Road”), two Blues Music Awards for contemporary blues album of the year and contemporary female blues artist of the year, and the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year award. Expect a blistering combination of Texas blues, Louisiana R&B and Gulf Coast swamp pop from a woman who was blown away when she discovered Irma Thomas and the blues at age 13.
Steve Earle: Once called “the hard-core troubadour,” Earle has settled into middle age still holding uncompromising political points of views that he’s willing to share, and a firm grip on rock, rockabilly and country music. Jail followed long-term drug addiction but he kicked the habit and charged into a second career with the comeback album “Train A Comin’,” nominated for a Grammy for best contemporary folk album in 1996.
The second time around has featured a broader palette that includes bluegrass, folk, country and hard rock. He’s written a play about the death penalty (his mother took part in vigils) and a collection of short stories, appeared in the HBO series “The Wire” (as a recovering addict), and had many of his songs in many movies.
Earle has won two Grammy awards for “The Revolution Starts Now” (best contemporary folk album) and, in 2008, for “Washington Square Serenade” for best contemporary folk/Americana album.
Eric Bibb: The bluesman’s “Get Onboard,” a 12-track CD that includes Bonnie Raitt and Ruthie Foster, hit the stores Tuesday. It explores where blues meets gospel and soul, three musical areas that Bibbs has investigated for four decades. The message is simple: Get aboard the spirit of unity for a better world.
Radio Rhythm: Students from the Skagit Family Learning Center are turned loose with the musical styles of each decade starting from the 1920s. Remember the days of the Andrews Sisters, Beatles and Bee Gees in the elementary to high school musical drama.
Bettye LaVette: The R&B singer, touring with music from “The Scene of the Crime,” brings an expressive voice that can be intense one moment and vulnerable the next. She’s experiencing a comeback 46 years after her first hit single in 1962. LaVette won a Grammy nomination with “Scene” and three 2008 Blues Music Awards (formerly W.C. Handy Awards) nominations for album, contemporary female artist and the B.B. King Entertainer of the year honors.
New York Voices: The Grammy-winning vocal ensemble continues its high-level jazz with the art of group singing. Rooted in jazz but willing to explore several other genres, New York Voices has performed with Ray Brown, Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, George Benson and the Boston Pops and has sung at major venues from Carnegie Hall to the Zurich Opera House.
Out and about: Mississippi delta-blues band Hillstomp continues to tour with music from “After Two But Before Five,” performing Saturday with Drunken Prayer (Tractor Tavern) … ArcAngel, Suburban Vermin, Death by Sex, Lisa Wooley and STBG will do their rock-and-pop combo Saturday at Jimmy Z in Everett …
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