Janis Ian first made her mark on the music world as a teenager when her song “Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking)”, which told of young lovers separated by racial prejudice, became one of the anthems of the 1960s. Though Ian kept working throughout the following decades, her success record on the national scene was spotty at best.
Now, in 2006, like many of her contemporaries, Ian is back with a new record called Folk is the New Black that mixes classic folk with hootenanny hollers and gorgeous jazz stylings. But what makes this old-time folk artist’s album different from the rest is her ability to bring the music into our post-millennium era without sacrificing her own particular identity.
The outspoken socially conscious Janis Ian who wrote “Society’s Child” is still present on songs like “Jackie Skates” where she tells a very modern tale about a young girl who was “just another drifter with the freeway in her blood”. She’s also not afraid to poke fun at the idea of a legacy and her own place in the annals of music history. On the song “My Autobiography” Ian has a good laugh about how it “Should be easy to make things up / There’s no left to call my bluff”. She goes on to add sensational tales - “I’ll say I slept with a Kennedy” with such “wink wink” humor that you can’t help but question every legendary tale you’ve heard through the years and accepted as fact.
Though is doesn’t show in her voice, which is still strong and clear, time has not stood still for Janis Ian. “Shadows on the Wind”, a thoughtful take on living “fatherless, motherless” after the death of her parents, is one of the best and most personal tracks on the album. But no matter how turbulent the times are, the singer/songwriter gets down for some old-time, singing on the porch fun with “Folk is the New Black”. And, just as that genre of music has never gone out of style - neither has Janis Ian. |