'Buried Country' Jon Langford's art and music coming to Australia

JON LANGFORD Musician and artist
A native of Wales, Langford, 48, has lived in Chicago since 1991. Married and the father of two young boys, he grew up fascinated by the huge explosion of American culture that swept the world in the 20th century. The Mekons, a country-punk sextet co-founded by Langford in 1977, often toured America, and Chicago became a favorite stop.

Eventually, the lure of America was too much. "I had to go and find out about it," Langford recalled. "To be obsessed with rock 'n' roll and Johnny Cash and Bob Wills and country music and blues music ... I had to go to Chicago and try and find bits of it. But when I got here, I found that most of it doesn't exist anymore. America moves on very fast and neglects its history."

In the mid-'80s, Langford began to connect the dots between punk music and country music. "Here was all this really hard, nasty stuff about drinking and cheating that I could actually relate to," said Langford, with a mischievous laugh. "Before that, we thought we'd invented the wheel with punk rock. But we realized it was nothing new at all. We were just part of this tradition of stripped-down honky-tonk music. It all really rang true to me."

In 1988, Langford found what he was looking for - the Sundowners, a legendary Chicago country trio who were quietly playing at obscure venues around the city and suburbs.
Recalled Langford: "We'd wear our best Alcala [the Western wear store on Chicago Avenue] shirts and cowboy hats and head downtown to the Woods Theatre, where the Sundowners were playing in the basement. They would ask us up on stage, and at first, we were just horrible. Then we learned some country covers and got better."
That went on for years; every time the band came to town, playing with the Sundowners was a given. They marveled at these older men who stuck to their guns and played the music they wanted to play. It was a lesson that stuck with Langford.

A prolific songwriter, Langford's solo albums are filled with "songs that didn't fit in anywhere else." "Skull Orchard" was about his hometown; "Lofty Deeds" dealt with the career of an imaginary country singer. The new pop-rock songs have a restless feel.
" 'Gold Brick' is much more wide-screen album, drawing on the whole sweep of history and the sorry state of the planet," said Langford. "I'm an exile and an immigrant, a fish out of water, just one of the millions who rode the wind and woke up one day an American."

After more than a decade living in Chicago, Langford is applying for American citizenship. An activist who speaks his mind about controversial issues, he has a problem with people who think he's come across the pond to "moan about things."
"There are amazing things about America," he said. "It's the land of opportunity, and that certainly worked for me. And now I'm the father of two sturdy American boys; I've got a responsibility to speak my mind."

Jon Langford holds a degree in fine arts from Leeds University in England, but not until the early '90s would Langford return full force to visual art. Today, his paintings and copper-plate etchings are hugely popular with collectors as well as fans of his music.
Rough and noisy, his multi-layered paintings mostly address the music industry from his point of view: making records, dealing with disappointment, selling your soul. Political themes are present in some; others are simple tributes to country music icons ironically wrapped in a haze of nostalgia.

"The idea to do those tribute paintings of neglected country singers was a direct response to coming to America and finding out that Bob Wills wasn't a household name like I thought he should be," said Langford, laughing.
In 1988, on a trip to Nashville to see Johnny Cash perform at the Grand Old Opry, his concept of tribute paintings began to take form. After the show, Langford was having a beer at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, the legendary nightspot on Lower Broadway. Sitting there staring at the walls covered by framed photos of the famous and not-so-famous was an experience he never forgot.


"There was a music industry graveyard up on that wall," recalled Langford. "Country music had moved on to this shiny white suburban pop and the stuff I liked was pitched. The only place I could find it was on those walls."
Those pictures inspired Langford to make some little paintings, most of which he gave away to friends. It was artist Tony Fitzpatrick who encouraged Langford to get serious.
"Jon's a phenomenally gifted artist and a brilliant draftsman," said Fitzpatrick. "His work has a distinctive fingerprint. There is a real primacy to his style."

"It started off with the little tribute paintings," says Langford. "When I first came to America, I found that there was a big mall built on top of the country music that I loved and was obsessed with. There was nothing left of it - it was just this white, suburban pop music with a cowboy hat on. Even when I went down to Nashville, I couldn't really find anything except on the walls of the old bars filled with publicity photos. There was something really poignant about the way these people looked. A lot of the people you'd never heard of, but they were on the wall from 50 years ago, smiling out still but under this glaze of nicotine. I tried to make little paintings that looked like those.

During the Tamworth Country Music Festival, Jon will have an exhibition of new paintings on show. He was inspired by 'Buried Country' - a book written by Clinton Walker about the forgotten Aboriginal Country Music artists. The exhibition (also called 'Buried Country') will be held at SAASS gallery which is situated off Brisbane Street - down the passageway from BWS liquor shop.

Jon will also be performing at the festival and has Sydney band Fat Dusty (Roy Payne - guitar, Jason Walker - pedal steel, Dave Harding - Bass and Neville Anderson - drums) backing him:

SAASS Gallery on Sat 27 Jan   8pm
The Albert on Sun 28 Jan   8pm.

While at the Festival Jon hopes to catch up with Jim Lauderdale - the Nashville songwriter. Jim's Grammy nominated album 'Bluegrass' sports a fabulous cover portrait painted by Langford in his inimitable style.

Below are a couple of paintings that will be on display as part of "Buried Country" Exhibition at SAASS gallery.

The first one is Billy Bargo "the first Black Australian cowpoke" and the second is the cover of Jim Lauderdale's Bluegrass album.

   

Print out and have the memories