Muddy Waters once noted that "the blues had a baby and named him rock'n'roll." We say they named him Lang, Jonny Lang, the 18-year-old with the screaming Telecaster who now weighs in, with the release of the stunning Wander This World, as the new Great White Hope for blues-based guitar rock. The boy wonder has already pushed the limits of superstardom, making room for himself -- a greyhound-thin, white blues guitarist -- in a world invented and inhabited by inveterate old black men. And he's found himself on the brink of the sort of success, commercial success, rarely seen by someone so young, especially anyone purporting to play blues, rock or any other music normally reserved for twenty-somethings and up. How has he done it? Work, work, and more work. In fact, Lang's extraordinary work ethic goes counter to everything you ever thought about Generation X, or in his case, Y. "If you were a mouse in the corner of every day of my life," he says, "you'd probably say, 'God, he busts his ass!' But to me that's never the case. At times it seems like it should be work, but it isn't. The minute I start thinking of it as work I'll stop doing it. You know how that saying goes, 'If you love your work you never work a day in your life.' That's me." Born on January 29, 1981, Jonny Lang grew up in Casselton, North Dakota, outside of Fargo. As the third child of four, the rest being girls, Lang has pleasant memories of a childhood spent riding his bike around the neighborhood and causing good-natured trouble at home. Lang's dad played the drums and Mom dug the music of Motown, so the house was usually full of grooves and soul. "Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to be involved in music," Lang has said, "playing it, being around it, anything. I'd be happy playing on a street corner, probably happier in a lot of ways just because there are so many stresses that go along with selling a lot of albums." In school, Lang's dad wanted Jonny, his only son to play hoops in addition to music, and while the lanky six-footer briefly obliged, he only lasted two games: "I liked it all right, but I'd have rather sat at home and practiced saxophone." He stuck with the sax, but only until being stung by the blues bug. For Lang, this happened at 12, a time when most kids were still staring at cereal boxes or watching cartoons. His father's friend, guitarist Ted Larsen, told an eager-to-learn Lang that he'd teach him to play guitar only if the teaching encompassed the blues and nothing else. "I was a blues snob at 13 years old," says Lang. "For me, it was a trendy thing, just like wearing baggy pants." Lang practiced six hours a day, plunging into the deep musical tradition populated by the best guitarists in blues history: BB, Muddy, Freddie, Lightnin', and so on. Armed with a Strat from dad, Lang began paying his dues on the somewhat limited North Dakota club circuit with a band called Kid Jonny Lang and The Big Bang. Backed by healthy word of mouth, the band independently released an album called Smokin' in 1995. It sold 25,000 copies. Jonny had outgrown his turf and decided to move to Minneapolis with his father. Lang hooked up with a bunch of ex-Prince musicians, hot shot talents who currently spread their wealth of soul around the Twin Cities. David Z, one former Prince cohort, offered to do Jonny's demo. Based on that material, Jonny was signed to a major label, and Z returned to produce his platinum-selling debut, Lie To Me. Lie to Me was released in January, 1997, a day before Jonny's 16th birthday, and the explosion was audible. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard New Artist chart, and spawned the title track hit. His matinee idol looks and scorching technique got him an hour-long TV special with Disney and a cameo in Blues Brothers 2000 with R&B guitar legend Steve Cropper. Huge tour slots with his heroes followed: Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, B.B. King, and Buddy Guy. On the 1998 follow-up , Wander This World, Jonny revisits the blues of Lie To Me, but also took some surprising detours into soul, R&B, funk and hard rock. Some of the coolest moments on the disc actually happen way outside the blues. In the credits for "I Am," listeners may be surprised to see Prince's name (or symbol), along with Prince cohort David Z. It's a soulful slab of royal funk, with a bad-ass bass line and some jazzy sax, courtesy of Eric Reed. Not what you'd expect from a kid straight outta South Dakota. Who knows? One day some other teenage guitar player might be trying to emulate his own heroes, and the name of Jonny Lang just might be up there alongside the blues-rock guitar heavyweights who inspired Lang himself...way back when.