Jonny Lang interviewed March 15, 2010 while in Kansas for a show.

Hey Jonny.

How’s it going?

Good. You in Kansas today?

Yep. Good ol’ Kansas.

Nice. I’m in the big state of Montana.

Nice. I love Montana.

I know you play in this general area of the country seemingly every year.

Yeah, we always make our way through there, it seems like.

Congrats on the upcoming live record, it sounds fantastic.

Thanks, man. Thank you.

Was this something you recorded in one shot or was it a collection from a series of shows?

That’s all one night. At the Ryman. We recorded a bunch of shows that year and kind of just went with that one. That was one of our better nights. Because it’s the Ryman, kind of a historic venue, was another reason we chose it as well.

This being your first live record, what was it about this point in your career that made you want to do something like this?

Well, I wanted to do a live record for a long time and it just seemed like now was the best time for a couple different reasons. One of them being, probably the biggest reason was, it used to be that you had to get a big sound truck to pull up to the venue and it cost a bunch of money and then if you didn’t have a good show, you kind of wasted all of it (laughs). Nowadays we have this digital sound console and we take that with us. To record now, all you need is a hard drive. That’s one of the reasons. You can record a bunch of shows and kind of pick the ones that you wanna use for a project like this.

It’s interesting you brought up recording shows because it’s cheap and easy. There’s always been this bootleg scene. Most of the time you have crappy recordings but with the Internet, everything is readily available. With bands like Pearl Jam offering every live show to fans is that something you might think about in the future as something to offer to people?

Yeah, absolutely. I think in the future we’ll be releasing a lot of free stuff. Like I mentioned before, you can pretty much multi-track record everything and get something out to people that’s of a good quality. It used to be that back in the tape days when you had to tape stuff, it was pretty much someone in the room with a microphone recording the show but now it’s real easy to multi-track.

That leads to another interesting example. Sometimes live albums can show a musician or a band performing in a completely different dimension doing the same songs. A great example of that is Zeppelin. You listen to one of their live records and it’s like they’re perfecting perfection. They can take ‘Dazed and Confused’ and stretch it out to nearly a half hour and it sounds brilliant. Your live sound comes off amazingly on this record. Was that one of your goals on this record for people to show those who haven’t seen a live show what really goes on?

Yeah, I think so. I guess the point of the live record is exactly that. I think there’s an energy that you capture live that doesn’t come across in a studio album. The downside of that for me is that you can’t go back and fix every little thing that you want either (laughs). I guess that’s kind of the cool thing about it is it’s just a snapshot. It’s a picture of the moment.

It’s very organic. If you hear something happen on there, you get it.

Yeah.

Talk about the Ryman for a minute.

It’s just one of those great places to play. It’s been around for, I don’t even know how long it’s been around. Since the 1800s, sometime. It’s one of those historic country venues in Nashville. It seems like we never have a bad show there. It’s cool. Nashville’s such a great music town. We just love playing there. It’s amazing. Have you ever gotten to go there?

I have not.

It’s pretty neat man if you get the chance.

I’ve driven through Nashville but didn’t stop.

It’s like this big, old church. I think that’s what it started out being.

You’re still a very young dude and you’ve spent a lot of your life on the road? How is this going for you having grown up this way?

It seems like it’s just flown by. I don’t know. It’s had its ups and downs through my life. I’m kind of a family guy at this point. Been married for almost nine years and have two kids. It’s been a pretty steady ride for the last ten to thirteen years, I would say.

I have two kids too so I can relate.

Nice (laughs).

Who were some of your biggest influences when you started learning guitar and were discovering which direction you were going to sing?

My first memories are of listening to Motown records growing up. It’s pretty much all my parents would listen to around the house. Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder and the Temptations and stuff like that. I would say Motown and soul music are my biggest influence. Then I started playing guitar when I was around 13 years old and started getting into B.B. King and Albert Collins and Albert King and guys like that.

It’s crazy you bring up Michael Jackson because my three-year-old discovered him about a month ago. He’s obsessed. He watches the DVDs and does the dances every day. I haven’t had the heart to tell him what happened to him.

(laughs). Oh man. That’s horrible.

He’s got it in his mind that he’s gonna see him live someday so I haven’t dealt with that.

That’s so funny. I remember so vividly seeing Michael for the first time. It was the same thing for me man. I was like ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me. That’s a human being doing all that?’ He didn’t seem real to me.

Describe what it was like mentally when you started honing in this southern fried blues that you’ve become known for and you captured it for yourself? What did that do for you?

I guess I never felt like I found my niche still to this day (laughs). I don’t know, man. I guess I’ve just always loved playing music and I think if there’s any memory of that feeling you’re trying to express was the first time I got to play in front of a live audience and express myself as a musician in front of people continues to still be my biggest thrill. I love it.

Your sister was on ‘American Idol’ last year. What do you think about ‘American Idol’ as far as providing a platform in finding musicians?

I think it’s a cool thing, for sure. It’s entertainment you know (laughs). Man, they have found some amazing talent on that show. I always tell people if the only reason ‘American Idol’ existed was to find Kelly Clarkson then it did its job (laughs). They’ve found some creative people.

I sometimes wonder if it ultimately works. They do pick talented people but I picture you entering back when you were 16 and would’ve blown the contest away but would you ultimately have made it through all the BS these singers must endure to get to that final spot? You see people with amazing talent who have a bad week and are voted off and you never see them again. Sometimes, the person who wins never gets heard from again either. I just wonder if the platform really works.

Yeah, right. I think it’s a weird thing, man. It’s up to the public I guess, ultimately. There’s no rhyme or reason sometimes. No definite equation for why it works sometimes and why it doesn’t. I think if people are gonna have a shot sometimes, sometimes you’ve gotta be on ‘American Idol,’ I guess (laughs).

For you, it’s been four years since the last studio album. Is there one in the works?

Yeah, I’ve been chipping away at the next one. It’s probably halfway done. It’s always a strange thing making a record for me. Sometimes it just comes right out and sometimes it takes awhile. I’ve been on the road a lot so I haven’t had much of a chance to work on it. Yeah, we’re definitely working on one and I’m excited about it.

Is it harder as an artist these days to find the motivation with so many people downloading and so few records being sold? Are you able to block that out when you record an album?

Yeah, definitely. I think that’s one thing that I’ve been good at is being able to not worry about the business side of it. Having a family definitely lends itself to those kinds of stresses but I guess in the end, I don’t really worry about it. I still love making music more than I worry about making music.

My three-year-old has been interested in music since he was one. He has drums, a piano, a guitar, all sorts of stuff. He has this inner music bug that you have to be born with. I don’t have what this kid has. How do you cultivate that interest in a kid without burning them out?

Man, I guess that depends on if they enjoy it or not. If you can tell your kid is inclined to something like music, then you wanna encourage them in that direction. I know of a lot of kids who their parents are these stage parents and try to force it with their kid and I think you’ve just gotta feel what they like and give it a shot. I know kids can change their minds a lot too. I don’t have the answer to that. You’ll have to get back to me in a few years (laughs).

I just let him do his thing and he finds his own music too. His favorite musicians are Michael Jackson, the Police, Slipknot, Gnarls Barkley, just a crazy mixture of things he attaches himself too.

That’s good that he likes all different stuff. That’s good.

If you could share the stage with any bands that have ever played, past or present, which ones would you choose?

Oh man. Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, probably my top two.

Nice. Alright Jonny. I appreciate you taking the time to visit with me.

Right on. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Hopefully you make it to Montana soon.

(laughs) Right on, man.

Talk to you later.

Bye.