CD RELEASE “Testament”

Peter Lang is one of the world’s preeminent 6 and 12 string fingerpicking guitar players. He withdrew from the professional music world for 2 decades. He has has returned in the new century with magnificent playing that mines the roots of his original inspiration - he cites the work of such country Bluesmen as Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis, and Mississippi John Hurt as the principal influences on his dizzying fingerpicking

His newest CD explores and revels in the DNA of American music. Peter talks about the music, saying "Historians say blues was full blown by 1890 with centuries of African-American oral history behind it. The whole world loves it and the lyrics seem ageless -- sex and power, betrayal and redemption. It was the southern working man's pop music, what made Elvis and Dylan and Springsteen possible, also made Tupac and Nirvana, for that matter." Chuckling, he adds, "the incredible musicians who'll be with me at the Dakota know early blues was serious red-hot pop."

The band will include Bad Plus and Happy Apple drum great, Dave King.

Heavyweights including Ry Cooder, Chet Atkins, Jerry Garcia, John Hammond and Keith Jarrett have called on him to play with them.

REVIEWS

"Peter Lang may be known as one of the world's pe-eminent fingerstyle solo instrumentalists .... To this day, John Fahey, Peter Lang & Leo Kottke, a 1974 Takoma Records release with four tunes from each player, remains one of the biggest selling fingerstyle albums ever. ... As his new CD Testament reveals, his approach can also propel a mean blues jam"
- Guitar Player Magazine, April 2008

" A guitarist's guitar player who rivals Leo Kottke."
- The St. Paul Pioneer Press

TESTAMENT

I believe early blues is the DNA of American music. But its source is elusive: When blues was first widely recorded in the 1920s it was based on older music and stories going back generations.

The music that sailed across the Atlantic on slave ships flowered into a
collective cultural memory for African-Americans. It was expressed in spirituals and field hollars of love, humor and hardship, often accompanied with the African
predecessor of the banjo, and later with the guitar. It borrowed from the British
and European traditions, but eventually it was simply called blues.

Historians always argue. Some say blues developed by 1870, while others
say it emerged as a distinct art form by 1890. Most agree the first jazz was played just before 1900; the first country music just after 1900; the first rock in the 1940s; the first rap and hip-hop in the early 1970s.

Art forms get blended, artists borrow from one another, and old copyrights
cannot be trusted. Arthur Big Boy Crudup once shouted, “Elvis? That man stole my songs, never paid me a dime!” Ultimately, early blues is more than an old story of southern black workingmen and women. It is the gut-wrenching drama of the blood and beauty of America itself.

I listened in amazement at age eight to the songs of Leadbelly and the
Carter Family. Sensing they were based on much older music and stories, I sought out every blues record I could find. Thanks to the mentoring of Dave Snaker Ray, I learned most of the songs on Testament in my teens.

I play stringed instruments, including a replica of Leadbelly’s revered 12-
string Stella. I try to do justice to the raw vernacular of early blues and, like my
predecessors, blend old songs and add lyrics. Thank God for heart-beating rhythms and lyrics of life.

Peter Lang

PERSONNEL
Peter Lang • 6- and 12-string guitars, mandolin and vocals
Dave King • percussion
Steve Larkin • upright bass
Michael Tanner • harmonica

TRACK LISTING
01. FREIGHT TRAIN (1:02)
02. BROWNSVILLE ROAD (3:45)
03. COLORED ARISTOCRACY (1:53)
04. I’M SATISFIED (2:12)
05. GUABI GUABI (1:39)
06. LIVING IN THE COUNTRY (2:32)
07. DELIA (2:46)
08. BUCKDANCER’S CHOICE (1:06)
09. CAN’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE (2:30)
10. GUITAR RAG (2:14)
11. NOBODY’S BUSINESS BUT MY OWN (4:39)
12. KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF HER (2:31)
13. THAT’LL NEVER HAPPEN NO MORE (2:09)
14. PAYDAY (2:05)
15. STACKOLEE (4:50)
16. JIMMY BELL (2:45)