Interviews: Janis Ian

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By Tiffany Razzano

rammy-winning singer/songwriter, Janis Ian, might be best known for her depressing, but beautiful, ballad about teen angst, At Seventeen, released in 1975, but she's written and performed a wealth of new music over the years.

And, if her recent appearance at Hippiefest at the Brookhaven Amphitheater in August, where she received not only the first standing ovation of the evening, but possibly one of the most enthusiastic, says anything, Ian remains one of the eminent figures on the folk music scene.

At Hippiefest, after telling the audience that her music "represented the depressing portion of the '60s," she played a handful of songs, including her older hits At Seventeen and Society's Child. That day she might have surprised more than a few audience members with her sense of humor, when she followed those songs with My Autobiography, off her newest album, Folk Is the New Black. In fact, while she still writes tunes with more serious themes, humor is prevalent in many of her newer songs, including the title track off the album, where she sings, "folk is the new black / cheaper than crack / and you don't have to cook," and the song Married in London, available for free on her website, which wittily addresses the fact that gay marriage is not legal in the United States.

"As you get older and become more comfortable with yourself," Ian said, "it's easier to find humor in situations. It took me a lot of time to see the humor in things."

This year, she celebrates not only the release of her 20th major label album, but also the 40th anniversary of the release of Society's Child. The song, which really jump-started her career, tackled the controversial theme of interracial relationships. "I was just looking at that contract," she said. "It makes me grateful that I have a career. The chance of a song like that making it today is minimal."

She's released many albums over the years, but Folk Is the New Black, released in April, is the first album entirely written on her own. The last album where she wrote all the songs on her own was 1981's Restless Eyes. After that, she opted to co-write with a variety of musicians, including John Mellencamp and Bette Midler. "[I wrote this album on my own] in part because I had the time, and in part because as much as I love co-writing, its one of those things that is great for a while, but you need to get back to your own writing eventually," she said.

Ian recorded the album, with Viktor Kraus on upright bass and guitars and Jim Brock on percussion and drums, in three days, with all vocals done live. "I wanted to make real music," Ian said. "Forget about perfection; folk music isn't about that. It's about heart. So we set the room up as though it were the '60s, three of us facing one another and playing because we love music. I sang everything live, and I surprised myself. I mean, I know I can sing live - I do it 200 nights a year. But to sing live in the studio, while I'm trying to play my own parts, arrange, and be the producer - I was surprised it came off so well. We had the budget to spend more time, but why? We'd already done what we set out to do."

The result is a stunning album with a wide variety of songs, from the humorous to the more serious, and even a handful of political songs. As far as the political nature of some of her songs, Ian said, "I don't think an artist has any duty beyond doing the best work that they can do. In terms of me getting politicized, I think the fact that this album was written close to the last presidential election probably affected it a lot. I was very annoyed."

Still, despite the fact that she tours during the majority of the year, leaving her little time to actively be involved politically, she still has managed to become a loud and influential voice on two topics: gay marriage and the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) fight against downloading music on the Internet.

Though she had been married before, after the marriage failed, Ian came out as a lesbian and has been open about her relationship. She and her wife married in Canada in 2003. This inspired her tune Married in London, about how gay marriage is legal in many places around the world, but not the United States. She sings, "Married in London, but not in New York / Spain thinks we're kosher, the states think we're pork."

Her role as the voice against the RIAA started when she wrote an article for Performing Songwriter magazine called The Internet Debacle. "I decided [Internet downloading] does more good than bad," Ian said. "All of sudden, it was on 5,000 sites and I found myself as a defacto spokesperson. I didn't mean to be, because representing a large group was the last thing on my mind. On the other hand, the RIAA keeps doing stupid things and someone has to say something."

Now, her plans for the remainder of the year are to keep touring. In fact, she's touring Europe until the end of October, before coming back to play some dates in the United States. The next time she's in the New York area is on October 26 at the Turning Point in Piermont, NY. "It's an album year," she said, "so it's a touring year."

After that, she plans on writing her autobiography in 2007, with plans to have it out by the fall of 2008.

"I've got enough to occupy me for a while," Ian said. "It's good to have work."

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