Jeff Lang

Jeff has just announced that his tour in Ireland in June will be a co-headline tour with Clive Barnes, an award winning songwriter and guitarist.

Clive has released four albums, one of which won Acoustic Guitar Magazine album of the year. Clive has toured and recorded with Joe Cocker, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Taj Mahal, David Crosby, Dr. John, Joe Ely and Eric Bibb and he appears on Eric's new album, Get on Board, playing slide guitar alongside Bonnie Raitt.

"Clive Barnes is the real thing. He has talent with a capital T. Raw, undimmed, shining, electric, diamond hard talent." Cluas.com

"When Clive Barnes is mentioned he is typically described as a guitarist of rare quality, but Goldtooth Cinnamon, his fourth album, lets the spotlight fall solidly on his brooding and evocative songs" Joe Breen, The Irish Times **** 4/5

"Barnes is quite clearly a gifted musician. His slide guitar work is mightily impressive, and one can hear echoes of the dustbowl epics of Ry Cooder" Boston Globe

Jeff has provided a small number of the Half Seas Over Tour Extras for sale in the Online Store, so if you are quick you might be able to land yourself a copy of these soon to be collectables. Orders for the Tour Extras will be limited to one copy of each disk per person. ** All copies of "The Blessed South" in the Online store have been sold **

On the Half Seas Over Tour there will be a couple of "tour-only" extras available, the "extras" are a couple of new new recordings by Jeff which will only be available at the shows on the Half Seas Over Tour:

• "The Blessed South" - a 9 song EP where Jeff covers songs by some of his favourite Melbourne songwriters. Originally a bonus disc at the Easter Bluesfests, the EP is being sold in a limited quantity of 1,000 copies for $15 at tour gigs only.
• "Disturbed Folk Music 2008" - a 2 (long) song vinyl single. There have only been 500 copies of this record pressed and they will not be available anywhere else aside from gigs for $10.

You will also be able to buy "Half Seas Over" with "The Blessed South" for $35 (Half Seas Over will be $25) at the gigs.

Half Seas Over by acclaimed Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter Jeff Lang is an album resonant with story and song.

With his eloquent guitar, sweet voice and plainspoken yet sensitive approach to the original and traditional source material, Jeff Lang is expanding the boundaries of traditional folk, country and blues to create a new brand of non-traditional music which is undeniably and deeply steeped in tradition, yet with its imagination set on future horizons.

This powerful and hypnotic recording draws deeply on folk sources – the old, unsettling gothic tales that have passed from musician to musician from century to century – and the simple but compelling sound of acoustic guitar with minimal accompaniment to express the deeper resonances beneath the stories.

Lang’s original compositions, together with a couple of traditional folk songs, testify to the power of music and story to stir our souls and awaken hidden stores of meaning. In Lang's hands, the ordinary becomes an enchanted space; everyday and domestic tales reveal themselves with heroic dimensions and tragic consequences. And his songwriting mastery can be seen in the smallest details -- from the wiry whiskers on an old lady's chin to a dress clinging to a barmaid’s body in the small town heat.

Arranged with the utmost simplicity, the duo format of Lang’s superb guitar accompanied by Grant Cummerford’s deft bass playing allows the stories of Half Seas Over to be delivered in their utmost power. As the quiet intensity of their playing builds, driven by the relentless pace of each story, the duo paint indelible pictures – a copper miner closing his eyes to dream of flight, a murderer watching the wind ruffle the water that will be his lover’s grave.

Inspired by a diverse set of influences, from John Fahey and Richard Thompson to Chris Whitley and Devendra Banhart, from Dock Boggs and Skip James to Dylan and AC/DC, Jeff Lang has created a contemporary classic. Jeff will be touring nationally through May & June to support this release with blues/folk singer songwriter Kara Grainger, in support of her debut solo album, “Grand & Green River”. www.karagrainger.com