{"id":835255,"date":"2026-09-03T17:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/835255\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T17:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:24:09","slug":"i-have-an-obsession-with-barber-shops-kd-lang-on-her-prairies-upbringing-patsy-cline-and-being-shaved-by-cindy-crawford-pop-and-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/835255\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I have an obsession with barber shops\u2019: kd lang on her prairies upbringing, Patsy Cline and being shaved by Cindy Crawford | Pop and rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

I left the Canadian prairies many years ago, but they remain my home. How do you feel about that part of western Canada<\/a>, where the prairies meet the Rocky mountains, which shaped us both? What does Alberta mean to you now? NicholasLittle
All of my artistic preferences were formed by the minimalism of the prairies, by the affordable space and the stillness. There weren\u2019t many things around, so a field with bales would be this incredibly graphic moment, or a tree or a certain hill \u2013 very small increments of beauty placed in vast amounts of space. The sky was very important and a feeling of \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t say loneliness, but solace, perhaps. That\u2019s my bottom line, my basic instinct. It\u2019s the frame that that informs all of my art, the way I decorate my house, the way I sing, the way I dress. That sort of minimalist nature is embedded in me.<\/p>\n

Many people can sing a song well, but you\u2019re a vocalist who emotes raw vulnerability. Do you work like a method actor \u2013 entering, or reliving, the reality of the song during the practice period? verdantearth
I try to sink myself into the lyrics for sure. I try to create visuals, sort of an emotional internal movie of what the lyrics possess, to relive it emotionally. With [Case\/Lang\/Veirs track] Honey and Smoke, for example, I imagine watching somebody I\u2019m in love with dancing with somebody else and feeling jealousy.<\/p>\n

How proud are you of that infamous Vanity Fair cover shoot [in which Cindy Crawford \u201cshaves\u201d kd in a barber\u2019s chair]? Trumansdad<\/p>\n

\u2018It was magical\u2019 \u2026 Herb Ritts\u2019 Vanity Fair cover. Photograph: Herb Ritts\/Vanity Fair<\/p>\n

Very. I was friends with Herb [Ritts] and somehow I got the opportunity to do the Vanity Fair cover, and he was shooting it. I was obsessed with a French movie called The Hairdresser\u2019s Husband at the time. I have kind of an obsession with cutting hair and barber shops. I don\u2019t know where that came from \u2013 actually, I just realised why, and I\u2019ve never told anyone this! My dad\u2019s drugstore in the really small town I grew up in \u2013 the next business over was a barber shop, so I used to watch the barber cutting hair all the time. It must be some sort of childhood visualisation imprint or something. I suggested to Herb, maybe we can do it in a barber\u2019s chair. He phoned me a few days later and said, \u201cI have Cindy Crawford.\u201d I was like, \u201cOK!\u201d We shot it on the roof of his building in downtown Hollywood, up on the roof at golden hour. It was magical. Cindy was super professional, as you can imagine. She\u2019s a model, so it was her realm. I was trying to behave and not be an idiot. It was incredible, and I knew that it had a certain gravity to it. After all these years, I feel like we made a piece of art and a significant social statement, and I really have such pride about it.<\/p>\n

LS: You have a very cheeky look on your face on the cover.
Yeah. I mean, come on!<\/p>\n

Could you name some of your favourite visual artists and explain why you love them? Do you own art? Simother
I can\u2019t afford to be a collector, but I\u2019m certainly a fan. I love everything; some of my favourite painters are Franz Kline<\/a>, because I love the confidence with which he painted, and Agnes Martin<\/a> because I love patterns and simplicity. She\u2019s also from Alberta. I really gravitate towards abstract expressionism just because I love that the emotion is driving it. That\u2019s how I relate to art, emotionally rather than intellectually.<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019re both incredible songwriters\u2019 \u2026 (from left) Laura Veirs, kd lang and Neko Case in 2016. Photograph: Don Ryan\/AP<\/p>\n

Looking back 10 years on, what do you remember most about Case\/Lang\/Veirs? And would you be tempted to work with Neko Case and Laura Veirs again if the stars aligned? VerulamiumParkRanger
I remember how excited I was when I had the idea to collaborate with them. When I texted them, they both answered within half an hour. And then the work began. I remember it being quite difficult in terms of having three major artists, who had been bosses their whole lives, coming together \u2013 we had to navigate and reformulate how we worked, the structure of writing and creativity. They\u2019re both incredible songwriters. I\u2019m in awe of their songwriting ability, and I had to stay out of the way because I felt like they were so much more prolific than I was. We ended up being real good friends, and we had an exciting but short tour.<\/p>\n

What was it like being part of the Vancouver music scene and performing at the Railway Club in the 80s? budthespud
You must be a Canadian. The Railway Club and the Savoy Club in Vancouver were extremely important to my career. They were both really great small alternative independent music venues. The person who booked the music, Janet Forsyth, booked me very early, and the buzz started happening. It was an incredibly vibrant and buzzy time for me. The shows were extremely formative because I was trying out a lot of different material, learning how to be a stage performer. To this day, Janet Forsyth is my best friend.<\/p>\n

Pee-wee\u2019s Playhouse Christmas Special. Photograph: Everett Collection\/Alamy<\/p>\n

What was it like to be a part of the Pee-wee\u2019s Playhouse Christmas Special (AKA the greatest, gayest Christmas special ever made)? My little brother and I have watched it together every year since 1988! AlexisHidell
It was amazing \u2013 it was magical because it was so unbridled. I just sang a Christmas carol \u2013 it was all carols, but he had really contrasting artists like Grace Jones and Doris Day. It was like he had all these different kites and he was flying them all at once. You could do whatever you wanted and it was joyful and wise and sardonic \u2013 it contained everything. It\u2019s not unlike the paintings we were talking about: it\u2019s emotional expression without any constraints, artistic freedom. Paul [Reubens, AKA Pee-wee Herman] and I became friends. I loved the documentary Matt Wolf made on him<\/a>. Paul was serious and very deliberate.<\/p>\n

Would you ever consider a follow-up to [lang\u2019s 2004 album of cover versions] Hymns of the 49th Parallel? Hearing Canadian music treated with that kind of deep respect and understanding \u2013 the individual songs and the way they exist in conversation with each other \u2013 changed something for a lot of people, I think. MarnaNightingale
I have been asked that by my record company and my manager, but I really try to honour my muse and my instincts. It hasn\u2019t happened yet, but maybe it will. Certainly the material is there. There\u2019s an embarrassment of riches of great Canadian songwriting.<\/p>\n

What was it like appearing on the Larry Sanders show? CaptainLib
It was fun. He was a beautiful guy. [The show was] an intense niche to be put into because they have their own vernacular and rhythm and way of being. I tried to inhabit my own space with it and be natural, but man, the energy there was kind of like being placed in the middle of a football game, and somebody\u2019s vacuuming naked \u2026 I don\u2019t totally remember what happened.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve described your connection with Patsy Cline as \u201cotherworldly\u201d. What is it about her \u2013 and the emotional landscapes of songs such as Leavin\u2019 on Your Mind \u2013 that gives her such enduring appeal? Bopalena_now_Johnny
The emotional connection is inexplicable. Emotion is something ethereal and indescribable. Patsy contained an empathy, an earthiness, a vulnerability, a sense of humour \u2013 all the essential parts of humanity. She just sang from an open place, and let people feel comfortable immersing themselves in her.<\/p>\n

Stage presence \u2026 lang with accordionist Teddy Borowiecki in 2006. Photograph: Mark Mainz\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The accordion is prominent not just in the beautiful Constant Craving but in multiple other recordings of yours. Can you tell us more about your accordionist, Teddy Borowiecki, and do you have a particular fascination with this instrument? BirtyDankers
It was around in my upbringing because in the Canadian prairies there were a lot of German and Polish eastern Europeans who had migrated to Canada, so it was prevalent in dance bands and so forth. And Teddy, who is Polish, was a very good accordion player, so I wanted to utilise his talent.<\/p>\n

What can you share about your meditation practice, and how it has affected you, the living of your life, and your music? Sillyputty
My spiritual practice is inseparable from anything I do, and is of utmost importance. It\u2019s taken precedence over all things in my life. So I don\u2019t even know where to start or how to describe it. It\u2019s given me a different point of reference that has anchored me in motivation and purpose. Just taking my contribution to the universe very seriously \u2013 not self-righteously, but the desire to be authentic and uncontrived.<\/p>\n

The 10th anniversary edition of Case\/Lang\/Veirs is released via Anti- on 4 September<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I left the Canadian prairies many years ago, but they remain my home. How do you feel about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-835255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}