Icon. Vegan. Albertan. Singer. Songwriter. Lesbian. These are only a few of the adjectives used to describe the incredible K.D. Lang. Born in Edmonton and raised in Consort, AB, Lang rose to prominence in the 1980’s. She lived up to her 1985 Juno for most promising female vocalist and skyrocketed with 1992 album Ingénue, and her biggest hit Constant Craving.
Fast forward to 2008, and the release of Lang’s first album of new work in eight years, Watershed.
“I was writing it for six or seven years. During that time I did A Wonderful World with Tony Bennet, Hymns of the 49th Parallel (covers of her favorite Canadian songwriters) and (compilation album) Reintarnation, and touring those albums,” Lang told GayCalgary and Edmonton magazine on the phone from a tour stop in Regina, Saskatchewan. “After a while I realized I had enough material to really focus on getting it finished.”
We spoke with Lang for this exclusive one-on-one interview while she is in the midst of touring Canada for Watershed. Reviews of the tour so far have been positive, while the shows have received multiple standing ovations, including after her rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Touring continues to be an important part of her life, says Lang.
”I do enjoy it. Singing is everything for me, when I get up on stage it feels like that is what I am supposed to be doing, it is very natural and rewarding. Over the years I have gone through different stages of it and I am quite relaxed to be on stage. I am excited to be playing, and with this band of handsome young men who are very enthusiastic. It is really exciting to be on stage with them because they breathe new life into my music. I am really having fun this time around. I am excited to come out to Calgary and Edmonton, so to speak, and look forward to seeing all you big queers out there.”
With 24 years of history and a dozen studio albums, we asked if it was difficult to narrow down a set list.
“I focus around Watershed at this point, and then mix it with the back catalogue. It isn’t that hard as I gravitate towards songs that I like at the time and what I think will work with the instrumentation.”
Watershed represents a milestone in Lang’s already extraordinary career. For the first time, she has taken on the role of producer - as well as writer, singer and multi-instrumentalist - for this album. The result is perhaps her most confident and revealing work, with gorgeous arrangements featuring strings and guitars; distilled lyrics that come across as intimate reveries; and warm, understated, and often very sexy vocal performances.
“Watershed is like a culmination of everything I’ve done - there’s a little bit of jazz, a little country, a little of the Ingénue sound, a little Brazilian touch. It really feels like the way I hear music, this mash-up of genres, and I think it reflects all the styles that have preceded this in my catalogue. I didn’t feel the need to be genre-specific because this experience felt so wide open. I didn’t have a band in the studio where I had to come up with a feel for a song because the clock was ticking and dollars were flying out the window.”
Taking on all roles in creating the album unfolded in a natural progression.
“I began to demo the songs in such a way that all the performances could be used on the record if I wanted them to. I would just step back from a song, revisit it later, and if I liked it, I would keep the track. It was a matter of chronicling, of documenting the songwriting process. A lot of what you hear on Watershed is first approaches, the creative moment of songwriting rather than just the performance of a song. For example, the vocal on the Shadow and the Frame, that’s the first time I sang it. I tried to capture the most real, the most honest performance to me. In a lot of cases, it was the very first one. I was always looking for a producer, but in the back of my mind I was thinking, I can produce this. I guess I kind of grew into the fact that I could do it, that I had the confidence to do it. I kept working on the songs and then I brought in Lynne Earls, a friend who’s an engineer and a programmer, and we started cleaning them up. As I kept doing that, I realized I am producing this record - so just finish it. I went into the process a little more intensely in the last year and a half, more intensely into editing and overdubbing, staying focused and diligent, and then I was done. And I had produced the record.”
The result is a very special album for Lang.
”All of my albums are special to me. This one is special because it is original and I produced it myself. It is my first #1 record, in Australia. It was hard for me to be really truly independent and confident enough to do everything myself, and the rewards of having it be successful feel really good.”
Lang has collected a multitude of accolades, from Grammy and Juno awards to being awarded the Order of Canada. She will add to that on June 11th with an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the University of Alberta, and in September with the addition of a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto.
”It makes me feel important. I don’t take these things too seriously, but I am really honoured. It makes my Mom really proud and that makes me proud. It is something I can’t even fathom personally, but it seems like a great honour so I am excited,” she said.
“I am certainly proud to be Canadian. My mom still lives in Alberta and I go back all the time. It is definitely my roots, there is no changing that and it makes me who I am. No matter where I end up or live in the world, it is who I am fundamentally. I am very proud to be a Canadian and Albertan.”
Lang has also long been an activist, most recently against China for their actions towards the people of Tibet. Lang wrote an article for Australia’s The Age newspaper explaining why. She has always supported causes close to her heart.
“My causes have expanded by one. Really it’s AIDS centric, animal centric, and human rights issues and my Buddhism. The recent struggles that Tibet has had with the Olympics has been one of my recent causes. I really try to make sure that the causes I involve myself with are from a very personal level, that I have a passionate connection to. Basic human rights mean a lot to me.”
After wrapping her Canadian tour, Lang will head overseas to Europe. She admitted to being unable to answer when I posed the question “being a Canadian artist, does it give you a different perspective and fan base than if you were an American artist.
“I know that being a Canadian certainly gives you a different edge in that... I don’t know, it is a really good question and not something I can answer in our timeframe. Yes, I do. I don’t know in comparing it to being a US artist, but being a Canadian artist gives you a different visa, so to speak.”
Her career has spanned every type of musical medium - vinyl, cassettes, CDs - and now the digital age. While music industry labels bemoan the effect of the Internet on music, Lang feels that music remains a strong industry in other ways.
”I think music is alive and well. It is all going to boil down to how good you are live, that is never going to go away. When you can stand in front of an audience and communicate with them on a lot of different levels - that is untouchable, no one can ever take that away or fake that. I think the Internet is fantastic; I do most of my music shopping on the Internet, which I pay for of course. Internet radio and browsing the Internet and myspace, you can access so many different artists that are hard to find. It will always be a pendulum that swings back and fourth, and people will always, always have a need for music. I feel pretty good about the music business.”
When she came out in 1992 as a lesbian, it seemed that her sexuality would overshadow her accomplishments as a musician. Before Ellen, Elton, or Rosie, there was K.D. standing bravely in a world that did not accept the LGBT community. The world is a better place now, 16 years later, and nobody can dispute that Lang’s honesty was a large part of that revolution.
“I am very proud to be part of the evolution of the integration of gays in society. It is certainly something I didn’t do alone but I am proud to be a part of it. With gay marriage, which I think is fantastic with the changes in Canada and California recently, it is very exciting. At the same time, being an old school homosexual I kind of miss the cryptic nature of our lifestyle that was kind of underground and exciting. But it is very good that people can experience equal rights.”
One of the most important things about Lang coming out is that it prompted conversation, positive and negative. This conversation has lead to many a person saying the words “I’m gay too.” When asked about being a gay icon, Lang humbly accepts the praise.
“This woman in Toronto, Debbie Pearson, came up with the term ‘dykon’ which I think is hilarious. If I helped people have a more open, healthy relationship with their parents or friends, or more importantly themselves that makes me really happy. Anything I can do to help people feel more comfortable and confidant in who they are, that is great. It doesn’t end with their sexuality but their confidence in being an individual.”
Who knows what the future holds for K.D. Lang, but there is no doubt that she already has established a legacy, as an artist, activist, and member of the queer community that will last forever.

k.d. lang
June 8th – Edmonton
June 9th – Calgary
Watershed is available now through Warner music.
www.kdlang.com