by Otto Luck, August 1998

Jonny Lang has a new buzzcut hairdo, which makes him look all the more like he just stepped off a schoolyard playground, which makes his mighty guitar-work appear all the more amazing, which makes it all the more apparent that, at age 17, he is one of the most promising young axe-grinders to arrive on the scene since Stevie Ray Vaughn surfaced from the great state of Texas.

Which leads me to the next paragraph...

Lang kicked off his gig at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, on July 28th, with "Still Rainin'," followed by "Quitter Never Wins," a Trimline Telecaster (the kind with the f-hole in it) dangling from his lanky 6-foot-1 frame. Jonny appeared to have his Fender plugged into a trio of vintage Super-Reverb amps. The sound that this combination created was awe-inspiring as was Jonny's chops and thunderous Joe Cocker-meets-Greg Allman voice. It occurred to me that this kind of musicianship does not come from sheer practice alone – yes, Virginia, God has blessed this Minnesota prodigy with reams of talent.

During Lang's third number, I polished off my bag of pretzels and started nipping on my little plastic cup of beer. Unfortunately, the club had run out of Heineken early on and I had to resort to drinking the swill they call Budweiser (there goes that sponsorship, NY Rock). Nevertheless, with Lang whipping up the storm he was onstage, the beer went down just fine and, besides, us bluesmen are made to suffer, right?

For his fourth number, Lang tore into the Sonny Boy Williamson classic, "Good Morning Little School Girl" which Jonny rendered with a whole lot more heft than he did on his A&M Records debut Lie to Me. In fact, if I have one complaint to voice about Lang, it's that his studio work to date is a bit pale compared to his live performances – at least the one I attended.

As if Lang hadn't already delivered enough gusto to cause one to be firmly planted in Blues Heaven, there was plenty more to come from the legendary Buddy Guy, who followed Jonny's set, appearing onstage around 11 p.m. I had heard much about Guy – a multi-Grammy Award winner, mainstay of the Chicago blues circuit, and owner of the famed Chicago club Buddy Guy's Legends – but had never had the opportunity to see him, until now, and it was well worth the wait. Minutes into Guy's set, it became obvious why the man is so popular. He's a consummate performer with an infectious nature that, well, just leaves you feeling good all over.

Buddy opened with the Muddy Waters classic, "Got My Mojo Working," and immediately wowed the audience with his speed-drill guitar work. Guy's style of playing manages to be rapid-fire in its execution while somehow appearing completely effortless. Along these same lines, he has a relaxed yet energizing presence onstage. His smile beams out at you, easily rivaling the glow of any of the stage lights which, by the way, were particularly good in the Hammerstein Ballroom on this evening.

Guy introduced the next number, "I Just Want To Make Love To You" (also a Waters tune), by informing the crowd that "We're gonna get so funky you could smell it." While my olfactory senses detected little other than the billows of marijuana smoke that were circulating throughout the mezzanine section, a couple of my other senses did take note of the fact that Buddy continued to put on one hell of a show, highlighted by his ten-minute pilgrimage into the audience during "Hoochie Coochie Man" (you guessed it, another Waters hit), all the while cranking out one blistering lead after another. Needless to say, the audience became completely unglued at this, rewarding the Chicago bluesman with many decibels of collected approval.

By the way, I should mention that the Hammerstein really seems to have their act together in terms of acoustics. Compared to some of the other cavernous clubs in the New York Area, the sound was excellent, coming through crisp, clear and well distributed throughout the room. It was a refreshing experience after being tortured by the likes of the Roseland Ballroom, and a few other select venues, at concerts I've recently attended.

• More of Otto Luck's work on NY Rock. • Join our mailing list. • Send this page to a friend!