Lang weathers change, being herself

Since k.d. lang's first album debuted in the 1980s, everything has changed in music.

Formats changed, from album to CD to mp3. Satellite radio nearly killed regular radio. Music videos rose and then fell in popularity, while entire genres have come along and dominated the industry.

Through all that, nothing much has changed for lang.

She returns to Las Vegas on Friday with her new band, Siss Boom Bang, to perform at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

"People are people. Music is music and those are two constants that will never change," lang says. "People want to hear music. It's a salve for our day-to-day troubles. I still think music fills a void."

So, though the business has changed, providing people with more choices, more music and more artists, lang is still fulfilling a basic need for her fans.

Lang, a Canadian singer and songwriter who now makes her home in Portland, Ore., won a Grammy with Roy Orbison for their 1989 duet, "Crying." Her musical style has never been limited to a single genre; in the 1980s, she hit the country music scene and won a Grammy for her album "Absolute Torch and Twang." She crossed over into pop with the 1992 hit "Constant Craving," winning another Grammy. She also won a Grammy with Tony Bennett in 2003 for their standards CD "A Wonderful World."

And those are just her American awards. She has been recognized all over the world for her music.

With her latest recording, "Sing It Loud," reviewers have said she has returned to her roots. But lang says she never left them behind. She may not stay in one place, musically, but she always works within the parameters of her musical influences.

"Sing It Loud" is 100 percent Americana, a hybrid of country and pop with a definite kd lang twist, she says. Her band is a vital part of that sound. And when they play live, they feed off of the audience's energy, engaging them. It's the kind of show where you can have a shot of tequila, sit back and listen or stand up and dance, lang says.

"I like being on the road with these guys. It's very joyful and rewarding," lang says. "It's very taxing, physically, but it's really rewarding at end of show, when you've got a sweat on."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@review journal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @StripSonya on Twitter.