Rock's iron man: Local musician Jon Langford not about to slow down

Jon Langford should be exhausted.

The Chicago resident, one of the keystones of the local music scene, records and tours regularly with multiple bands. He makes solo records. He's a published author and an accomplished visual artist. And he's also a husband and father.

Yes, Langford should be exhausted, but during a recent phone interview he didn't even sound tired.

"I don't know how I do it all, really," he said with a laugh, his voice colored by his Welsh accent. "But I can tell you I don't feel ready to drop things just yet."

That's good news for fans of his music. Langford, known for his work with bands like the Mekons and the Waco Brothers, has just released a new solo record, "Old Devils" (Bloodshot Records). The album provides another helping of the punked-up country songs that have become Langford's trademark.

Song titles like "Haunted" and "Getting Used to Uselessness" might suggest a morose, downbeat record. But Langford knows how to keep things rocking while he comments on the messed-up state of the world.

"I'm not a sad person, really," the 52-year-old Langford said. "But I don't always like what I see around me, and I guess that comes through. When I was growing up, everyone kept telling me that things were getting better. But it seems like the world's in a worse place right now, more dangerous and more frightening.

"Still, though, this isn't a downer record. We like to rock out."

The "we" Langford refers to are members of his backing band, Skull Orchard, which includes fellow Wacos Alan Doughty and Joe Camarillo on bass and drums, along with Jim Elkington on guitar.

Together, they swing easily from genre to genre on "Old Devils," delivering rootsy punk-pop in one song and softer acoustic country in another. Strings, keyboards and horns provide shimmery accents throughout.

Langford said the songs that wind up on his solo records are the ones that just "pop out."

"I'm not sure where they come from," he said. "It's like they're just there all of a sudden. The amazing thing is that they do seem to hang together when we start putting them on record."

Born in Wales, Langford attended art school in Leeds, England, which is where he started making punk music with the Mekons. In the mid-1980s, a friend exposed Langford to the American country music of Merle Haggard, George Jones and Hank Williams. It was a revelation.

"I didn't like country music before that," he said. "But this stuff was classic honky-tonk music, and it was real. It dealt with real life, which was just like punk. I really responded to it."

The Mekons' 1985 record "Fear and Whiskey" incorporated country elements into the band's punk sound. Critics loved it, and the album helped establish a musical template that Langford would follow throughout his career.

"The thing is, I'm not even conscious of the difference between punk and country anymore," he said. "At their core, they're very similar forms."

Langford moved to Chicago in 1992 and immediately immersed himself in the local music scene. He continued performing with the Mekons, but also explored his country-rock fusion in the Waco Brothers, the Pine Valley Cosmonauts and numerous other groups. Along the way, he became something of a father figure for Chicago musicians, producing and contributing to a dizzying number of records from other bands.

Eighteen years after arriving in Chicago, Langford hasn't slowed down a bit. He keeps all his musical projects going while maintaining his side career as a painter. (Langford, who creates his own cover artwork, paints just about every day in a studio on Western Avenue.)

Does it ever seem like too much?

"Not really," he said. "I'm able to balance the music and the painting and everything else pretty well. But who knows - maybe I'll wake up one day and realize I am an 'old devil' after all."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Jon Langford concerts</p>

<p class="News"><b>Saturday, Sept. 18:</b> Quenchers Saloon, 2401 N. Western, Chicago. $5. Starts at 9 p.m.; quenchers.com</p>

<p class="News"><b>Wednesday, Sept. 22:</b> The Abbey, 3420 W. Grace, Chicago. Opening for Stan Ridgeway. $15. Starts at 8 p.m.; abbeypub.com</p>

<p class="News"><b>Saturday, Oct. 16:</b> Martyr's, 3855 N. Lincoln, Chicago. Record release party for "Old Devils." $12. Starts at 9 p.m.; martyrslive.com</p>