Released in Canada and the United States in 2006,
Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky
is
Penny Lang
's first album since 1999 and the Canadian
folk
veteran's first studio recording since suffering a stroke in 2000 (when she was 58). Some singers who survived strokes have been forced to give up singing for good, but thankfully,
Lang
recovered enough to record again and provide a meaningful album. This excellent CD points to the fact that although
(who turned 64 in 2006) is
-oriented, she has plenty of other influences as well. During the course of the album,
combines
with everything from
gospel
(
"Let Me Fly"
) to
country
"If I Could Be the Rain,"
"Prairie Sky"
Celtic
music (the title track) to
jazz
and
torch singing
"Careless Love,"
"Room to Move"
). The
vocal jazz
that
acknowledges on parts of
isn't the
Charlie Parker
-influenced
bop
of
Sarah Vaughan
,
Carmen McRae
, and
Abbey Lincoln
, but rather,
from the pre-
bebop
era (as in
Billie Holiday
Mildred Bailey
Hoagy Carmichael
during the '30s). Regrettably,
's catalog isn't nearly as large as it should be; in a perfect world, she would have been recorded exhaustively back in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. And it's also regrettable that the Montreal native isn't as well-known in the United States as she is in Canada. But listeners can be thankful for the
albums that do exist, and that includes the rewarding
. ~ Alex Henderson