Jon Langford
Encyclopedia
Jon Langford born October 11, 1957, Newport
, Monmouthshire
is a Welsh-born musician and artist who is presently based in Chicago
. He is the younger brother of science-fiction author and critic David Langford
. Langford is also an honorary board member of the Chicago based nonprofit organization Rock For Kids
.
band The Mekons when it formed at the University of Leeds
in 1977, but he later took up the guitar as other band members left. Since the mid-1980s he has been one of the leaders in incorporating folk
and country music
into punk rock. He has released a number of solo recordings as well as recordings with other bands outside of The Mekons, most notably the Waco Brothers, which he co-founded after moving to Chicago in the early 1990s. He is involved with the Chicago-based independent record label
Bloodshot
.
Langford is also a prolific and respected visual artist best known for his striking portraits of country music icons including Hank Williams, Johnny Cash
, and Elvis Presley
. His paintings appear on bottles and other items for the Dogfish Head Brewery
. His multimedia music/spoken-word/video performance, "The Executioner's Last Songs," premiered at Alverno College
in 2005, and has been performed in several other cities. He illustrated the comic strip Great Pop Things
under the pseudonym Chuck Death. Since 2005 he has co-hosted a weekly radio program, "The Eclectic Company," broadcast on WXRT
93.1 FM in Chicago. He has contributed to This American Life
.
Among Langford's musical side projects have been the Three Johns
(with John Hyatt and John (Phillip) Brennan), who released several albums of drum-machine-fueled punk in the 1980s; the country-punk Waco Brothers (with Dean Schlabowske, Tracey Dear, Alan Doughty, Mark Durante
, and Mekons drummer Steve Goulding
), who have been recording since 1995; the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, a revolving assortment of Chicago musicians who have backed both Langford and other musicians such as Kelly Hogan
; and Ship and Pilot. He became a father figure to the local music scene, encouraging many of his labelmates on Bloodshot Records and championing anyone he thought worthy of scrutiny, often lending his services as a musician or visual artist or inviting local musicians to guest on his releases. Langford's first official solo album, Skull Orchard
, a look back at his hometown of Newport, Wales, was released in 1998. He followed it with All the Fame of Lofty Deeds, in 2004, Gold Brick in 2006, and Old Devils in 2010.
Langford is an accomplished artist and is renowned for his multi-layered paintings of famous and forgotten figures from the dawn of country music. Nashville Radio, a collection of his artwork and writings, was published in 2006.
In January and February 2009, Chicago's Walkabout Theater Company and Collaboraction premiered a stage adaptation of Langford's Goldbrick that featured a live band, two actors and video projections. In November and December 2009, The House Theatre of Chicago
staged a production of "All the Fame of Lofty Deeds", written by rock journalist Mark Guarino and based on Langford's art and 2004 solo album.
In a 2010 interview, Langford said his earliest influences were Tom Jones
, Slade
, T.Rex, The Kinks
, Johnny Cash
, Man
and Black Sabbath
.
, which performs the music of other country music groups. Several alternative country musicians have guested on these recordings.
Langford has guested on numerous recordings, including with Dutch punk band the Ex, The Old 97s, Chip Taylor
, as well as Austin, Texas legend Alejandro Escovedo
, and has recorded joint albums with Sally Timms
, Kevin Coyne
, Richard Buckner
, Kat Ex and Rosie Flores
. He also contributed and worked with Doorika
, a defunct performance arts collective based in Chicago and New York City.
In the late 2000s Langford came into contact with the Burlington Welsh Male Choir based near Toronto
, featuring the dulcet tones of Barry "Satchmo" Hyslop, invited them first to accompany him at a CeltFest in Chicago
in 2007, then to re-record the whole of the Skull Orchard. The album Skull Orchard Revisited (credited to Jon Langford and the Burlington Welsh Male Choir) was released on June 3, 2011 by Bloodshot Records.
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (historic)
Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
is a Welsh-born musician and artist who is presently based in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. He is the younger brother of science-fiction author and critic David Langford
David Langford
David Rowland Langford is a British author, editor and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter Ansible.-Personal background:...
. Langford is also an honorary board member of the Chicago based nonprofit organization Rock For Kids
Rock For Kids
Rock For Kids is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, Illinois. Honorary board members include Martin Atkins of Invisible Records, Andrew Bird, Jon Langford, Johnny Marr of Modest Mouse and the Smiths, Nan Warshaw co-owner of Bloodshot Records and Joe Shanahan owner of Metro...
.
Biography
Langford was originally the drummer for the punkPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band The Mekons when it formed at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
in 1977, but he later took up the guitar as other band members left. Since the mid-1980s he has been one of the leaders in incorporating folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
into punk rock. He has released a number of solo recordings as well as recordings with other bands outside of The Mekons, most notably the Waco Brothers, which he co-founded after moving to Chicago in the early 1990s. He is involved with the Chicago-based independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Bloodshot
Bloodshot Records
Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois which specializes in roots-inflected indie rock, punk blues, and a Chicago brand of outlaw country...
.
Langford is also a prolific and respected visual artist best known for his striking portraits of country music icons including Hank Williams, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. His paintings appear on bottles and other items for the Dogfish Head Brewery
Dogfish Head Brewery
Dogfish Head Brewery is a brewing company based in Milton, Delaware founded by Sam Calagione. It opened in 1995 and produces 75,000 barrels of beer annually. Dogfish Head has been a rapidly growing brewery - it grew nearly 400% in between 2003 and 2006...
. His multimedia music/spoken-word/video performance, "The Executioner's Last Songs," premiered at Alverno College
Alverno College
Alverno College is a Roman Catholic, four-year, independent, liberal arts college, historically and still primarily a women's college located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin....
in 2005, and has been performed in several other cities. He illustrated the comic strip Great Pop Things
Great Pop Things
Great Pop Things was a comic strip by Colin B. Morton and Chuck Death . It first appeared in Record Mirror in 1987, transferred to the New Musical Express in 1991, and was also published in LA Weekly.The strip was a satirical faux-history of rock and pop music...
under the pseudonym Chuck Death. Since 2005 he has co-hosted a weekly radio program, "The Eclectic Company," broadcast on WXRT
WXRT
WXRT, also known as WXRT 93.1, XRT, and 93-XRT is a AAA radio station in Chicago, Illinois. For many years their slogan has been "Chicago's Finest Rock". WXRT is a primary sponsor of the Chicago nonprofit Rock For Kids.-History:...
93.1 FM in Chicago. He has contributed to This American Life
This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
.
Among Langford's musical side projects have been the Three Johns
The Three Johns
The Three Johns were a Post Punk/Indie Rock band formed in 1981 in Leeds originally consisting of The Mekons co-founder, Jon Langford as well as John Hyatt and Phillip "John" Brennan , augmented by a drum machine.-History:...
(with John Hyatt and John (Phillip) Brennan), who released several albums of drum-machine-fueled punk in the 1980s; the country-punk Waco Brothers (with Dean Schlabowske, Tracey Dear, Alan Doughty, Mark Durante
Mark Durante
Mark Durante is a pedal steel guitarist who is currently based in Chicago.Durante began playing guitar in 1968 after being inspired by the fretwork of Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Merle Travis. Ten years later, Durante founded a rock combo he named "Public Enemy"...
, and Mekons drummer Steve Goulding
Steve Goulding
Steve Goulding is an English drummer, best known for his memberships with Graham Parker and The Rumour, The Associates, Poi Dog Pondering and The Mekons. With the Associates he had a UK #9 hit single with "Party Fears Two"...
), who have been recording since 1995; the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, a revolving assortment of Chicago musicians who have backed both Langford and other musicians such as Kelly Hogan
Kelly Hogan
Kelly Hogan is an American singer-songwriter born in Atlanta, Georgia.In the 1990s, Hogan sang with The Jody Grind , singing on their full-lengths One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure and Lefty's Deceiver . The group disbanded after two of its members were killed in a car crash...
; and Ship and Pilot. He became a father figure to the local music scene, encouraging many of his labelmates on Bloodshot Records and championing anyone he thought worthy of scrutiny, often lending his services as a musician or visual artist or inviting local musicians to guest on his releases. Langford's first official solo album, Skull Orchard
Skull Orchard
Skull Orchard is the debut solo album by Jon Langford, recorded in August 1997 and released on January 20, 1998 by Sugar Free Records, a Chicago-based label...
, a look back at his hometown of Newport, Wales, was released in 1998. He followed it with All the Fame of Lofty Deeds, in 2004, Gold Brick in 2006, and Old Devils in 2010.
Langford is an accomplished artist and is renowned for his multi-layered paintings of famous and forgotten figures from the dawn of country music. Nashville Radio, a collection of his artwork and writings, was published in 2006.
In January and February 2009, Chicago's Walkabout Theater Company and Collaboraction premiered a stage adaptation of Langford's Goldbrick that featured a live band, two actors and video projections. In November and December 2009, The House Theatre of Chicago
The House Theatre of Chicago
The House Theatre of Chicago is a non-profit, ensemble theatre company in Chicago, IL. The House was founded in 2001 by a group of friends from the British American Drama Academy and Southern Methodist University with the mission of exploring the ideas of Community and Storytelling in order to...
staged a production of "All the Fame of Lofty Deeds", written by rock journalist Mark Guarino and based on Langford's art and 2004 solo album.
In a 2010 interview, Langford said his earliest influences were Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
, T.Rex, The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Man
Man (band)
Man are a rock band from South Wales whose style is a mixture of West Coast psychedelia, progressive rock, blues and country-rock. Formed in 1968 as a reincarnation of Welsh rock harmony group ‘’The Bystanders’’, Man are renowned for the extended jams in their live performances, and having had...
and Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
.
Collaborations with other musicians
Langford initiated a project, the Pine Valley CosmonautsPine Valley Cosmonauts
-History:The group was initiated by Jon Langford as a covers group, with a constantly shifting repertory and cast of backing members. The name was first used for Langford's 1995 album of Johnny Cash cover songs...
, which performs the music of other country music groups. Several alternative country musicians have guested on these recordings.
Langford has guested on numerous recordings, including with Dutch punk band the Ex, The Old 97s, Chip Taylor
Chip Taylor
James Wesley Voight , better known by his stage name as Chip Taylor, is an American songwriter, who is noted for writing the songs "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing." He is the brother of actor Jon Voight and geologist Barry Voight...
, as well as Austin, Texas legend Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:The son of Mexican immigrants to Texas, Escovedo is from a family that boasts several professional musicians, including brothers Coke Escovedo and Pete Escovedo, and Sheila E...
, and has recorded joint albums with Sally Timms
Sally Timms
Sally Timms is an English singer and songwriter. Timms is best known for her long involvement with the Mekons whom she joined in 1985....
, Kevin Coyne
Kevin Coyne
Kevin Coyne was a musician, singer, composer, film-maker, and a writer of lyrics, stories and poems. The former "anti-star" was born on 27 January 1944 in Derby, UK, and died in his adopted home of Nuremberg, Germany, on 2 December 2004....
, Richard Buckner
Richard Buckner
Richard Buckner is an American singer-songwriter born in California. After living in Edmonton, Alberta for a number of years, he currently resides in Brooklyn, NY...
, Kat Ex and Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores is a rockabilly and country music artist of Mexican American heritage. Her music blends rockabilly, honky tonk, jazz, and Western swing along with traditional influences from her Tex-Mex heritage...
. He also contributed and worked with Doorika
Doorika
Doorika was a performance arts collective based in Chicago and New York City from 1990-1999. It was a collaborative group with a mix bag of visual artists, performers, non-actors and musicians who worked on developing multi-media theater projects. It was co-founded by John Dooley and Erika Yeomans...
, a defunct performance arts collective based in Chicago and New York City.
In the late 2000s Langford came into contact with the Burlington Welsh Male Choir based near Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, featuring the dulcet tones of Barry "Satchmo" Hyslop, invited them first to accompany him at a CeltFest in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 2007, then to re-record the whole of the Skull Orchard. The album Skull Orchard Revisited (credited to Jon Langford and the Burlington Welsh Male Choir) was released on June 3, 2011 by Bloodshot Records.
Solo Discography
- Skull OrchardSkull OrchardSkull Orchard is the debut solo album by Jon Langford, recorded in August 1997 and released on January 20, 1998 by Sugar Free Records, a Chicago-based label...
(1998) - All the Fame of Lofty Deeds (2004)
- Gold Brick (2006)
- Old Devils (2010)
- Skull Orchard Revisited (2011, debut album Skull Orchard re-recorded with the Burlington Welsh Male Choir)
External links
- [ Jon Langford] at Allmusic
- Interview from The Onion A.V. Club (2005)
- Jon Langford collection at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's live music archive - Jon Langford's art at Yard Dog