Clippings
FOR STONE+SAND+SEA+SKY…Penny Lang, live, unifies an audience in a way no-one else does. What a precious icon this woman is!
Richard Flohill, October 15, 2007
Borealis, Stone & Sand & Sea & Sky has entered the Canadian Galaxie (satellite) charts at # 2 on the high-rotation list at the Folk/Roots network for July.
Most plays of a Canadian artist on the Canadian Folk DJ charts for the last week of MAY !
…an incredible record…I totally get her now…the communication…the vulnerability… the arrangements are stunning…a world class package. I really, really, really, really like it!” Larry LeBlanc, Canadian Bureau Chief, Billboard
Lang inhabits her songs with humour, grace and ease, expressing with the quiet authority and authenticity of someone who has lived …light and dark… Her voice is instantly recognizable, soothing, unadorned, naked. Kathy Fisher, Penguin Eggs review Summer 2006 issue
Penny Lang calls her album Stone & Sand & Sea & Sky, but not because she has seemingly been around as long as the elements themselves. No, the title reflects the veteran folk singer’s move from Montreal to British Columbia, where she has found solace and natural comfort….Her voice is perfectly imperfect, with a husk and slight slur to it. And even though most of the songs were not written by Lang, she is fit well, the material clothing her as vulnerable and earthy. Brad Wheeler, The Globe & Mail
A deeply moving meditation on life and love and the cracks in between. Lang makes all of the (songs) her own, whether bluesy or jazzy or folk to the bone. Robert Reid, Arts Reporter The Record, Kitchener, ON
“the finest album in her illustrious career. …filmmaker and performance art producer Roma Baran has created a stunning aural landscape for some truly fine songs. Her work with Laurie Anderson might have predicted otherwise but she has used a folk instrument palette to great effect….”Careless Love” is simply magnificent. This blues-drenched lesson of the price of careless love (paid many years later) makes most other versions redundant.” Jon Valentyn, Maple Blues Magazine, Toronto
Penny Lang has crafted her finest record in a career that has, itself, ebbed and flowed over its 40+ year span. A true epiphany…warm, luxurious and highly intimate…. Her honey-on-burled-oak of a voice blends with deft and varied arrangements that accentuate, but never overpower, the song….a real accomplishment. Eric Thom, Exclaim, Toronto
A recent recipient of a lifetime achievement award from Folquébec, over 40 odd years, six records and countless nationwide tours she has become nothing short of a national treasure in the world of Canadian folk. … Lang worked with (Roma) Baran last year for the first time in over three decades. The result is Stone & Sand & Sea & Sky, a spare and sublime collection of late-night, back-porch roots lullabies, and Lang’s first record in over seven years. Produced with delicate precision by Baran (alongside New York percussionist Viv Stoll), the 13 plaintive tracks, which roam from tranquil folk and rustic country blues to Parisian jazz and Celtic ballads with fluid grace, reveal a more intimate, inviting side to Lang’s voice, an expressive shade she’s only recently discovered. Steve Baylin, Ottawa Express
This may sound weird, but in order to grasp the essence of Montreal’s Grande Dame of folk-blues’ new album, one should first listen to another of her records: the extraordinary Gather Honey, with songs recorded by Penny between 1963 and 1978: with its magnificently simple arrangements and Penny’s powerful, organic voice…Only then can one appreciate to which point Stone & Sand & Sea & Sky is a delicate hommage to the 63 year old singer by the reputed producer Roma Baran, (who herself started out with Penny in 1964)…The incredibly rich arrangements that call upon a procession of instruments and friends allow Ms. Lang to sing her life story as if for you alone. It’s beautiful and serene, at times different from anything she’s done til now; yet fits perfectly with her oeuvre. In short, to paraphrase French songwriter Michel Berger on the late Ella Fitzgerald, Penny Lang too, has “soul matter: a special voice/a special joy/this gift from above/renders her beautiful”. Marie Christine Blais, LaPresse, Montreal splendidly original arrangements (Translation)
Penny Lang has made an auspicious re-entry with a new album.. ingeniously produced and arranged by former Montreal bandmate Roma Baran, the ears behind New York art-song composer and performance artist Laurie Anderson and her studio partner Vivian Stoll…a quiet contemplative piece of work … underscored with a sense of suspended wonder. Greg Quill, Toronto Star
(Headline) Folk icon Penny Lang delivers stunning new album, Whitehorse Star
Canadian Folk Royalty (headline) Stark honesty and vulnerable passion…a stunning achievement. Kazu Watanabe, Aquarian Weekly, NJ Tri-States
This new album of mostly blues, folk and country covers… makes up for lost ground….Recorded leisurely, it finds Lang singing in a deeper, richer register than before, luxuriating in songs such as the traditional Careless Love and Dylan’s One Too Many Mornings. **** Pat Langston, Ottawa Citizen
Whether Lang likes it or not, she is a folk icon and she’s back in the saddle with her just-released terrific new album … Richard Burnett, Three Dollar Bill column, HOUR Magazine
If we were in the States, or the UK or France, no doubt Penny Lang would be an object of serious cult worship, with her brilliant loser’s life…but she’s from Montreal, where an (Anglo) singer/guitarist of the incandescent folk genre for over 40 years doesn’t account for much, generally speaking. With her new album…..there is hope that she’ll finally become better-known at home… Marie-Christine Blais, La Presse, Montreal (Translation)
“Simply beautiful…I had to try to NOT let myself get into it too much! - it’s SO beautiful and moving…your voice has this vulnerable quality…and you make it SO available to us…” Shelagh Rogers, host of Sounds Like Canada, CBC Radio, after playing Sudden Waves, the album’s first track.
Penny Lang Finds Peace (headline) The veteran singer and songwriter, so closely identified with the city’s folk music scene…has taken up residence on BC’s Sunshine Coast…the change of scenery has given Lang a new burst of energy and creativity, resulting in a new album…It may just be the best of her long career…Mary Lamey, the Gazette, Montreal feature article
Penny Lang is back, sounding stronger and more gently swinging than ever. The mood here is intimate and reflective, thanks in part to co-producers Roma Baran and Vivian Stoll, who had Lang stand close to the mike and sing quietly, conversationally. A who’s who of local roots musicians contributes…. Unusual instruments - chiming metal bowls, marimba, vibraphone, flugelhorn - add depth and texture, but Lang’s worn voice, as familiar as an old friend, is the album’s heart and soul. Mary Lamey, the Gazette, Montreal album review
A veritable renaissance…Stone & Sand & Sea and Sky offers arrangements that support the meaningful songs… D. Lelievre, VOIR Magazine, Montreal (translation)
The Promised Land of Penny Lang(Headline)
Four words, Stone & Sand & Sea & Sky…summarize the continuing voyage of one who, for 40 years has borne all of life’s hardships…her voice calmer than ever…, the great lady seems to be finding inner peace. And there is light in the distance! 8.5 on 10. Yves Bernard, Magazine ICI, Montreal (translation)
The other Lang
Folk sweetheart Penny Lang comes to town for the local launch of her CD Stone And Sand And Sea And Sky. Her first studio album in seven years, produced by Roma Baran and featuring Kate McGarrigle, caps a remarkable four-decade career for this 63-year-old lesbian from Montreal — one of Canada’s leading roots-based artists. Xtra Toronto
Gently Legendary (headline) …a natural… Naam vanVeer, Folkprints, cover article for OCFF Magazine - (Ontario Council of Folk Festivals)
The finest album of her long career and unlike anything she has done before ….Mike Regenstrief, CKUT Radio, Montreal
The First Lady of Folk…Penny Lang took the bull by the horns and returned to the studio with Roma Baran, her longtime guitarist and protégé before she became a Grammy and Oscar nominated producer, to record …a polished album…it contains songs that were chosen with care in order to cover all of the artists’ vocal colours…Patrick Gauthier, Journal de Montréal (translation)
A Miracle Called Penny Lang (Headline)
I nearly didn’t write about Stone & Sand & Sea & Sky this week…not because I didn’t like it, but to the contrary, I wanted to keep this new Penny Lang record for myself, selfishly, like a secret garden in which to find refuge on those days where you have to hit bottom before seeing the light. But is that not the definition of the blues?…
Over 40 years, Penny Lang has rubbed elbows with tons of brilliant musicians, many of whom link up with her here…Kate McGarrigle, Michael Jerome Brown…Ken Pearson, and not forgetting Roma Baran, whose impeccable yet simple production makes listening to this album a pure pleasure…Dominique Denis, L’Express, Toronto (translation)
The Promised Land of Penny Lang (Headline)
Four words, Stone & Sand & Sea & Sky…summarize the continuing voyage of one who, for 40 years, has borne all of life’s hardships…her voice calmer than ever…, the great lady seems to be finding inner peace. And there is light in the distance! Yves Bernard, Le Devoir, Montreal (translation)
I like her warm lived- in voice Suze Rotollo, New York City
Penny’s CD launch weekend here was wonderful… a whole evening of Penny &(son) Jason in a comfortable and intimate setting, with a rapt audience. I loved Jason’s fabulous guitar backing Penny plus some prodigious solo work. If they cut another CD with the same songs & just the two of them, I’d buy that too. Her CD is in heavy rotation here! A Fan, Ottawa
I’ve been LOVING Penny’s album. I mean REALLY LOVING it. It’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in a very long time. Eve Goldberg, Toronto
A gentle collection of well-crafted folksongs…Lang’s rich alto delivery is saturated with her life experiences…her perspective incredibly affecting…it is like a folk festival soundtrack. Alissa Witts, SWERVE, Manitoba
Penny Lang is in my ears and in my eyes (headline) OpiniatedLesbian.com
On the Laura Flanders show: If you missed Lang you missed some wonderful music and wonderful conversations Third Estate Sunday Review blog, NYC see the whole review
This is a really, really nice cd. this program centers around traditional songs, not singer-songwriters, so I seldom play the latter, but I still appreciate a well-made new song, and Penny Lang’s are among the best. Paul Stamler, host of “No Time to Tarry Here” KDHX-St. Louis
“…back from the Vancouver Island Musicfest and had another amazing time. Penny Lang continues to be sweet and wonderful…after this many years everything she does is about the heart of the music…” Tom Coxworth from Vancouver Island Music Festival
When Lang roars, ”I just want to get to the Promised Land, ” it’s abundantly clear that, even at age 65, this lady still possesses heavenly pipes of burnished gold. Xtra, October 2006
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“In 19 years of covering the Lunenberg Folk Harbour Festival, I have never heard such a powerful uproar from a festival audience, and this was no rock concert. Penny Lang, soft and sweet and relevant, provided a soulful Andante. I can’t remember any Folk Harbour concert presenting a more consistently brilliant lineup at a single event. It was a grand beginning to an unforgettable evening. Penny Lang had little to do to win the huge audience over. Frail-looking, but firm as ever in her clear, steady voice, she sang of common tragedies and familiar hurts: men who use alcohol to drown their pain while robbing their families of a good man through growing mean and sad. Lang sang of how tough the world is for kids to grow up in, she sang of old age and “all those honky-tonks and whisky rivers” flowing back to you - not personal experience, to be sure, but the reflections of a woman grown wise through compassion. On a stool in front of her a roll of duct tape held down the papers she now needs to sing the lyrics no longer available to her memory following her recent stroke. Lang also sang Careless Love - with all of us, of course, and ended with Ed McCurdy’s Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, in remembrance of the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima.” Stephen Pederson at the Folk Fest, Herald Halifax, NS 2005
“Penny is especially Great!!! She was a favourite to many. The Chapel with her and David Essig and Valdy was superb I hear! ” Brent Hutchinson, Concerts at Islands Folk Festival, Victoria, BC 2004
” The only disappointment I found was that the evening only lasted about 5 hours, it could have gone on forever” Christine, Orcasound.com-Penny Lang Tribute Concert
1st Yellow Door Award “definitely worthy of being included in the recent resurgent popularity of this music genre…With a voice reminiscent of the late Peggy Cass..Lang’s debut rendition of the traditional ‘In the Pines’, as well as covers written by Bonnie Raitt, Janis Ian and Buffy Sainte-Marie are speaking examples of acoustic brilliance from a long-forgotten era in mainstream radio broadcasting” Diane Wells, Rock in the Blues, 2002
“A cult legend of the Canadian folk scene” Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide, 2002
“Everything I would have hoped for from a musical icon.” Paul Lowenberg, AD Northern Lights Festival Borealis, July, 2002
“a strong woman with a bluesy angle to her music and a political bent to her lyrics. And she’s a lot of fun. Penny Lang has been on the circuit for many years and will give a powerful performance” WVBR Bound for Glory, Ithaca, NY 2002
“It may sound cliché but Penny Lang is a national treasure. The talented, soulful Lang invests every show she performs with an unbelievable sense of joy and she ensure she connects with every person in the audience. Whether she’s playing for 5 people or 5,000 her enthusiasm for the music is infectious and her charm is undeniable.” Joe Riley, Acoustic Waves Programmer, GCTC, Ottawa, Feb 2002
“For anyone who was an adolescent during the ’60s, the cover photo of an earnest-looking young woman in a poncho strumming an acoustic guitar may bring a warm sense of nostalgia. Those who were born during that decade tend, when faced with such an image, to roll their eyes. But those who approach this album expecting empty earnestness and hippie-dippy platitudinizing will be pleasantly surprised. There are no misguided attempts to cure the world’s ills through songs lifted from someone else’s misunderstanding folk culture; Penny Lang takes contemporary urban folk and blues songs and delivers them in a voice both powerful and unaffected. Listening to this chronological document, which opens with her earliest recording from 1963 and ends with recordings made in the late ’70s, you hear her voice grow in strength and distinctiveness, but she never lets her own stylistic choices get in the way of the songs themselves. (In that sense, she has more in common with Ella Fitzgerald than with, say, Buffy Sainte-Marie, even though her voice is closer in quality to the latter than the former.) Highlighs here include that first recording, a hair-raising rendition of “In the Pines,” and a dated but charming cover of Paul Lauzon’s “Start Again.” Recommended. Rick Anderson, All Music Guide, 2002
“Never has such a spooky version of “In the Pines” graced my stereo. The then 21-year old Penny Langs’ Live 1963 take on the ancient Leadbelly song is full of wide-eyed wonder and worldly despair. Lang’s delivery is convincing and truthful to their roots, making Gather Honey an excellent traditional folk album.” Exclaim, Toronto 2002
“One of the joys of working in ‘folk music’ is that it has a history and the elders are revered. Pete Seeger in America, Ewan McColl in Britain, and in Canada, among those who have lived their lives nobly in folk music in Penny Lang from Montréal…There were bad times and golden days. And oh what days they were in the beginning at the Yellow Door and the Café André. Gather Honey, is a record of those golden days….It showcases Penny’s wonderful, bluessy, gospel voice…Penny’s voice is joy to listen to and a good song is a good son. Penny always had a knack for finding the good songs. In an amazing long lived career of ups and downs, Gather Honey is a very high, high up for Penny Lang. Les Siemieniuk, Penguin Eggs 2002
“much-beloved doyenne…” Sing Out! 2002
“the gift of communication…and ability to connect have won her legions of fans” St-John’s Telegram (NL) 2002
“Out of this intense paying of dues, a gusty, authoritative interpreter of all kinds of folk music-with a special love for the blues…a major talent, covering her early career and times exquisitely in 1 22-page booklet. As a historical document, this CD and its package materials are utterly fabulous…this set will leave lovers of folk music hungering for Lang’s all-too-few other recordings…a voice you will want to live with constantly for quite some time.” Bill Fisher,Victory Music Review US2002
“a voice to die for…it’s the voice that transcends the years-pure, honest, uncompromising, true-whether alone with guitar or in the company of other musicians.” Nightlife, Kitchener-Waterloo 2002
“sound quality on Gather Honey is unusually good” Judith Gennett,Greenman.Review.com 2002
“applause for her bold, bluesy renditions of traditional and contemporary folksongs” Ottawa Citizen 2001
“sound quality on Gather Honey is unusually good..The material is interesting and easy to listen to, and Lang has improved and matured over the intervening years” Judith Gennett, Greenman Review, 2001
“First Lady of Folk…albums…well-received” Alan Neister,Globe & Mail, Toronto 2001
“folk/blues legend” Greg Quill, Toronto Star, 2001