Blues-guitar virtuoso Jonny Lang [ tickets ], who has been on the road since mid-September, plans to stay busy with more live shows in 2004.

Lang has unveiled a two-week run that kicks off in Southern California in mid-January. The jaunt follows a month-long break that begins after Lang wraps up his current leg of touring in Minneapolis on Friday (12/12).

The roadwork supports Lang's Oct. 14 release, "Long Time Coming." The aptly titled set is Lang's first release since his critically acclaimed 1998 album, "Wander This World."

"Of course the title is about how long it's been since I've had an album out, and it's pretty much about trying to be patient," Lang said in a statement. "The album is really a journal of my life for the past two years."

Lang co-produced the set with Marti Fredrickson (Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, Faith Hill), whom Lang said pushed him during the recording sessions.

"It really humbled me working with Marti because it was the first time anyone really critiqued my playing," he said. "Before, I could just play whatever, solo or whatever, little guitar riffs between vocal lines and be like, 'Okay, cool, we'll just keep that.' But when I was in the studio with Marti, I'd play something and he'd be like, 'That sucks. You can do better than that.'

"Of course, I'm getting all offended. But after a while I just really grew to just love him for that because I learned I'm the kind of person who should be produced."

Lang's website is streaming four songs from "Long Time Coming": "Red Light," "Dying to Live," "Beautiful One" and "Give Me Up Again."

In 1997, Lang gained notoriety with his major-label debut, "Lie to Me." Critics frequently noted that the then-teenage artist possessed an unexpectedly mature-sounding vocal delivery.