K.D. Lang 'Reintarnation' album

In 23 years as a celebrated singer and songwriter, k.d. lang has navigated a diversity of material to consistent acclaim. Audiences, critics and the Recording Academy have warmly embraced her through collaborations with Tony Bennett, self-penned albums such as Ingenue and All You Can Eat, and, most recently, her creation of a Canadian songbook with the critically lauded Hymns of the 49th Parallel.

Produced by lang and her longtime collaborator Ben Mink, the forthcoming collection, Reintarnation—named after a neologism defined by The Washington Post as “coming back to life as a hillbilly”— focuses on the first decade of her recording career, when she broke ground as a singular kind of country singer who channeled the genre’s canon while subverting a number of its conventions. The early lang catalogue was dubbed “cowpunk” and arguably paved the way for artists who in more recent years have appropriated country music, garnering a mix of support and the suspicion of Nashville’s Music Row, and reaching a much broader audience. Rhino will release Reintarnation April 25.

At the outset of her professional recording career, lang was already paying tribute to her heroine Patsy Cline. In 1983, she independently released her first single, a composition called “Friday Dance Promenade,” on which she was backed by her aptly named band, the Reclines. Reintarnation brings to the greater public this song—of which lang pressed just 500 copies that were sold only at concerts—as well as “Hanky Panky” and “Pine and Stew,” from her first full album, A Truly Western Experience (1984).

These early recordings earned lang a recording contract with Sire, who released her major label debut, Angel with a Lariat, in 1987. The album was produced by roots-rock icon Dave Edmunds, producer of landmark work by the Stray Cats, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Nick Lowe and others—in addition to being a successful recording artist in his own right—and brought the same visceral rock sound to lang’s work. From Angel, Reintarnation culls the title track, “Turn Me Around” and “Diet of Strange Places.”

Following Angel was lang’s landmark album of country standards, Shadowland, on which she teamed with the legendary Owen Bradley, producer of her musical forebears, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Brenda Lee. Reintarnation includes “Don’t Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes” from that Gold-certified album. Seven Reintarnation tracks were originally featured on Absolute Torch and Twang (1989), which earned lang her first GRAMMY for Best Female Country Vocalist: “Big Boned Gal,” “Pullin’ Back the Reins,” “It’s Me,” “Luck In My Eyes,” “Big Big Love,” “Trail of Broken Hearts” and “Nowhere to Stand.” Also featured on the Rhino collection are three songs from lang’s soundtrack to Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, the Gus Van Sant film based on Tom Robbins’ classic book about love, cowgirl power and revolution: “Don’t Be A Lemming Polka,” “Curious Soul Astray” and “Cowgirl Pride.”

Near the end of the collection is the previously unreleased song “Changed My Mind,” which lang and Ben Mink co-wrote over 20 years ago; they finally completed and recorded it for Reintarnation.

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K.D. Lang - Reintarnation

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