[6] After secondary school, lang attended Red Deer College, where she became fascinated with the life and music of Patsy Cline and decided to pursue a career as a professional singer.

After a show at Devil's Lake Corral which drew over 500 people, lang joined with label owner and manager Larry Wanagas to form a Patsy Cline tribute band, the Reclines, in 1983.

The first band featured Stu Macdougal on keys, Dave Bjarnason on drums, Gary Koligar on guitar and bassist Farley Scott.

The Reclines regularly played Edmonton's popular Sidetrack Cafe, a local venue that featured live bands six nights a week.

In 1983, lang presented a performance-art piece, a seven-hour re-enactment of the transplantation of an artificial heart for Barney Clark, a retired American dentist.

[citation needed] Singing at country and western venues in Canada, lang began to establish an appearance and style referred to as "cowboy punk".

[12] She would later recall the inspiration for her defining look in an interview with the Canadian Press: "I used to sew plastic cowboys and Indians on my clothes – just having fun with it on a budget.

"[11] Lang made several recordings that received very positive reviews and earned a 1985 Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist.

In 1989, lang released her last album with the Reclines, Absolute Torch And Twang, which won the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

Due to the success of the song, lang received the Entertainer of the Year award from the Canadian Country Music Association.

That year she also performed "Turn Me Round" at the closing ceremonies of the XV Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, and sang background vocals with Jennifer Warnes and Bonnie Raitt for Orbison's acclaimed television special, Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night.

In 1998, she contributed "Fado Hilário" to the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon produced by the same organization.

Lang won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her 1989 album Absolute Torch and Twang.

Jagger discovered his daughter listening to a recording of "Constant Craving" on her stereo and realized he had heard the song before many times but only subliminally.

The album cover and booklet photographs show lang in a man's suit, referring to cross-dressing as another possible meaning of the word "drag".

In 2003, she won her fourth Grammy Award, for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her collaboration with Tony Bennett on A Wonderful World.

"[17] In the same year, lang released Hymns of the 49th Parallel, which featured cover versions of songs by iconic English-speaking Canadian singer-songwriters: Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, and Neil Young.

On July 29, 2006, lang performed her hit "Constant Craving" at the opening ceremonies of the Outgames held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

She also sang a duet with Ann Wilson on the Heart singer's solo album Hope & Glory covering the Lucinda Williams song "Jackson".

Lang played the lead in the 1991 drama film Salmonberries, and also co-starred with Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd in Eye of the Beholder (1999).

She has also made guest appearances on the sitcoms The Larry Sanders Show, Dharma & Greg, and the famous coming out episode of Ellen.

Lang performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra for an intimate crowd at 18th-century church LSO St Luke's in London on February 3, 2008.

In early May 2010, lang filled in at the last minute for Susan Boyle at the Australian TV Logie Awards to reprise her Winter Olympics performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", receiving an extended standing ovation.

In September 2024, lang will reunite with her old band The Reclines to perform together for the first time in 35 years at the 2024 Canadian Country Music Awards in Edmonton, Alberta.

More than a dozen radio stations in the U.S. throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Montana and Nebraska also boycotted playing her records due to her "Meat Stinks" campaign.

[11][30] The issue contained a detailed article about lang which observed that she had thought that she would be ostracized by the country music industry when she came out as a lesbian.

"[31] However, they were accepting, and her records continued to sell, but when she appeared in an ad for PETA, they were less impressed, owing to the relationship between country music and cattle ranching.

On April 24, 2008, she joined pro-Tibet protesters in Canberra as the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay made its way through the Australian capital.

[46] Early in life, lang was listening to and was influenced by female artists, such as Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones, Kate Bush, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt.

I sang country music for mentors like Patsy [Cline] and Loretta [Lynn], people I loved who were telling their stories.