Jon Langford and the Bright Shiners (from the album Where It Really Starts

Jon Langford and the Bright Shiners (from the album Where It Really Starts

Jon Langford and the Bright Shiners (from the album Where It Really Starts available on Tiny Global Productions) (by Lee Zimmerman)

Given Jon Langford’s varied history and prolific prowess, it’s always interesting — make that, intriguing — to see what he comes up with next.  Originally one of the members of the British Alt Country Punk band The Mekons, which he helped form while attending the University of Leeds in 1977, he went on to make his name by deftly incorporating Folk and Country music into the insurgent sounds of the Punk ethos. He’s since released a number of solo albums as well as records with The Waco Brothers, a band which he co-founded after moving to Chicago in the early 1990s. It was there, too, that he played a formidable role  involved with that city’s prominent independent record label Bloodshot Records.

His efforts haven’t ended there. Jon Langford’s also made his name as a respected visual artist who has become well known for his striking portraits of Country music icons such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley. In addition, since 2005 he’s co-hosted a weekly radio program, The Eclectic Company, broadcast on WXRT 93.1 FM in Chicago.

Jon Langford’s new album, Where It All Starts, recorded with a new outfit dubbed The Bright Shiners, features Langford on vocals, guitar, and percussion, Alice Spencer on vocals, mellotron, and keyboards, Taming Gueramy singing and playing violin, and John Szymanski contributing guitars, percussion loops, bass, piano, and vocals.
Given Langford’s occasionally irascible reputation, it’s curious to find Where It All Starts makes for a surprisingly affable encounter. Songs such as “Awake the Land of the Shadows”, “Seahouses”, “I Have a Wish”, and “Discarded” are playful to a great degree — wistful, whimsical, and imbued with pleasantries and reflection. Even when the rhythms find a steady surge, as with the opening offering “For the Queen of Hearts” and the curiously-titled cautionary tale “A Farsighted Ghost”, the music maintains a pervasive pleasantry. Likewise, given the mellow meanderings that color “Tell Me Your Story” and “On a Scale of One to Nine”, the amiable feelings purveyed overall extend unabated.
 
Given Jon Langford’s instinctive imagination, Where It All Starts may in fact mark a new beginning. As his fans and followers have come to know so well, he’s never at a loss when it comes to combining imagination with intrigue.
(by Lee Zimmerman)
 
Listen and buy the music of Jon Langford and the Bright Shiners from AMAZON
Please go to the Jon Langford and the Bright Shiners website for more purchase and artist information
 
Jon Langford prints at Yard Dog Art