Jeff Lang is critically acclaimed as a truly great guitar player. He has toured with Ani Di Franco, Chris Whitley, Albert Collins, Bob Dylan, Loudon Wainwright III, Richard Thompson, Greg Brown, Kelly Joe Phelps, Dr. John and Bob Geldolf, while his unique musical vision easily finds a home in myriad venues, from a large festival stage to a small Irish club to the Sydney Opera House. In addition his 2002 collaboration with Bob Brozman won an ARIA award (Australia’s equivalent of a Grammy) for Best Blues and Roots Music album. Jeff Lang has achieved what is a rarity in the cluttered world of contemporary sounds: his own voice.

“Seeing Jeff Lang was like being at church for three hours - a totally sacred event. He’s the man as far as I’m concerned.”
John Butler

“Australia’s best roots-music artisan.”
Jeff Apter, Rolling Stone

“Often hard and raw, sometimes sweet and melodic, and always innovative.”
Dirty Linen

“Anyone who sees and hears him becomes an instant fan.”
Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald

“A guitarist-singer-songwriter of the very highest calibre.”
Tony Hillier, Rhythms

“There are certain musicians who are so gifted, so astonishingly talented, so plugged into Something Bigger than we can imagine when they make music … I witnessed a show a couple of weekends ago that made me want to include Jeff Lang in that company.”
Umbrella Music

“He explores sonorities as eclectic as they are stunning…Lang’s only reference point is himself, a unique singer-songwriter-guitarist who follows his own path.”
Le Soleil, Quebec.

“Australian guitarist Jeff Lang weaves remarkably skilled blues guitar around his songs, effortlessly playing complicated parts but never at the expense of the songs themselves.”
The Onion, Madison WI

“Is he…rock…blues…country…folk…from Mars? No, actually he’s all of the above - if not quite extraterrestrial - and a lot more…a one of a kind.”
The Australian

THE CD

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 nontraditional 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.