Penny Lang, a prominent figure on the Canadian folk scene, was also the mother of artist Jason Lang. To underline what the 80s would have beene For the birthday of his mother, who died six years ago, the musician-singer came up with a tribute album that he christened Handled with care.
At 52, Jason Lang has directed a hundred musical projects with various stars from here and elsewhere (Roch Voisine, Isabelle Boulay, Corey Hart, Amanda Marshall, Richard Séguin, Marjo…).
Guitarist, singer and producer, the multidisciplinary artist does not hesitate to say that the album Handled With Care is the album that changed his life.
This “Old Time Country Blues” style opus contains ten songs in English. Eight were written by his mother, who was considered a folk music legend in Canada, and two pieces which the latter loved to perform on stage. Two songs from the album have already been released to the general public: Plumb Tuckered Out and Happiness is.
“These are songs that I loved playing on stage with my mother,” says the singer, who is offering his third solo album here (after Beautiful Disguise in 2008 and Boomerang in 2010).
“I’ve researched a lot about her music, the musical roots of what she wrote, and I’ve dug up her songs to keep the ones that touched me the most.”
Old music
Penny Lang, who died in 2016, was born in Montreal and lived in the Laurentians and then in a small village in British Columbia. So Jason Lang grew up “up north” in a house where music was everywhere.
He owes his love of music to his mother; an artist who has released a dozen albums in her career including Stone+Sand+Sea+Sky, which won her multiple awards in 2006.
This musical project will have allowed the son to rediscover who his mother really was.
“Now I have a chance to really find out who she was and what her values are,” he explains. It was important for her to never forget that what makes us happy is easier than we think. A week before her death she said to me like a child: “Look at the trees”. It’s a beautiful legacy she left me.
The singer points to the track Carry On Children, which tells the story of parents who watch their children leave faraway homes to go on with their lives despite the difficulties they encounter. Now as an adult, Jason Lang understands that some of his mother’s songs were about all the love she had for her only son.
“This project is a bit like making one of his albums, which I would have liked to have done during his lifetime,” confides the artist, in love with the scene. Unfortunately that never happened because she stopped making music in 2008 before I directed it.”
The pleasure here merged with the melancholy of delving into his mother’s memories. The practice has led to one certainty: he will record another album of covers of his mother’s hits.
While waiting for that second work, Jason Lang is putting the finishing touches on his launch show, which will take place in Montreal on February 24th in his girlfriend, singer Martha Wainwright’s Ursa room. He is also planning a tour and festival appearances this summer.
The scrapbook Handled with care by Jason Lang will be available on February 24th on all platforms.