Dan's Papers - May 1, 2009 - k.d.lang Ends Year-Long Tour

As four-time Grammy winner k.d. lang wraps up a year-long tour, her last stop will be a fundraiser for the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on May 2. "Long Island's our last show after a year," she said. "I imagine we're going to be in a crazy mood."

With a diverse and deep repertoire of music to choose from - ranging from country to pop to jazz - lang says she plans on filling her set list mostly with songs from her most recent album, 2008's Watershed, as well as fan favorites from her back catalogue. On Watershed, her first album of original material in eight years, lang donned the producer's hat for the first time.

And already lang is planning on hitting the studio to once again record some new songs after taking a brief respite. "I'm going to take some time off and then see what's been stored up and what comes out," she said. "It feels really, really good to be playing original music again." Though she's quick to add, "You never know what will come up," pointing to the Grammy she won for her 2003 collaboration with Tony Bennett on "It's a Wonderful World."

Born and raised in Canada, lang started out her career as a country western singer songwriter - she actually formed a Patsy Cline tribute band for a period of time - and eventually found her way to Nashville. She also was a backup singer for Roy Orbison, who chose her to record a duet of his song "Crying." This earned her the first of her four Grammys in 1989. Since then, she's released a number of critically acclaimed, genre-hopping albums - the country-esque Absolute Torch and Twang (1989), the adult pop of Ingénue (1992), Drag (1997), an album of smoke-themed songs, and 2004's Hymns of the 49th Parallel, where she pays homage to Canadian songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. "I really just hear it all as music," said lang of her predilection for switching musical genres with each album. "I just record the kind of music I like to listen to. I try not to think of it as genres."

Also, over the years lang has become known for her activism, which includes her support of both gay and animal rights. With her position in the media spotlight, she uses it to champion her causes whenever she can. "My activism really stems from actual, alternative choices I've made for my lifestyle," she said. "It's not political. To me, being a celebrity is an opportunity to communicate to the masses."

k.d. lang will be at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on May 2 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $225, $175, $125. To purchase tickets, go to whbpac.org. For more information on lang, go to www.kdlang.com.