k.d. lang to take
a look back with Reintarnation

Canadian singer-songwriter k.d. lang will release a 20-track set in April focusing on the first decade of her career. Reintarnation, due April 25 via Rhino, includes singles and rare tracks from a time when she made a mark by indulging her admitted obsession with early country music in the vein of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.

"I traded tape time and studio time," lang told music journalist Holly George Warren during an interview Thursday at the South by Southwest music and media conference in Austin, Texas. "I'm also a painter, and I traded one of my paintings for studio time. I made my first single."

She pressed just 500 vinyl copies of that 1983 track, "Friday Dance Promenade," to sell at her gigs with her band, the Reclines. Also featured on the disc is "Changed My Life," a song written with longtime collaborator Ben Mink more than 20 years ago but recently recorded for Reintarnation.

In Austin, lang remembered starting out and why she felt she was able to score a recording deal with Sire Records even though her vintage cowgirl act was atypical of the music scene at the time. "I realized by staying in Edmonton, working and gigging and honing my skills as a performer...that was something that was the biggest asset to what I did," she said. "I toured Canada a few times, creating buzz and actually played [Late Night With David Letterman] before I was signed, based on the buzz."

The notoriety she achieved attracted Sire founder Seymour Stein, who traveled to Canada to see lang perform. "Seymour slept during the whole show," lang said with a laugh. The next day she took Stein, among other places, to a rodeo. "He fell asleep at the rodeo," she said, with mock dejection. "But I got signed." (Barry A. Jeckell, Reuters)