Known for her smart, beautifully constructed lyrics and timeless songs, songwriter Janis Ian is still at the top of her game.
Forty years ago, she wrote the ballad “At Seventeen,” which won her a Grammy Award. Just last year, she received her second Grammy, this time for Best Spoken Word Album for her autobiography “Society’s Child.”
Ian now will bring her prolific singer-songwriter career to Harrisburg, specifically to the Rose Lehrman Arts Center for an intimate, one-night concert on Nov. 21.
Throughout the history of pop music, many stars have used their art to draw awareness to important social and political issues. Recently, Melissa Etheridge’s hit “I Need to Wake Up” (the theme song for the film “An Inconvenient Truth “) focused on global warming. Stars like Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews tackle the plight of the family farmer each year during the hugely popular Farm Aid concert. And today in Liberia, pop stars are raising their voices to warn about the dangers of Ebola.
Back in the 1960s, a youthful Janis Ian was soaking in the counterculture ideas of that era. She recalls it as a time of optimism for her generation; a time when young people thought that anything was possible. The gay rights and women’s rights movements had started, and race relations had improved through a new Civil Rights Act. The music industry was also changing.
“The music in the ‘60s was so heavily influenced by the rise of FM radio and the ability to connect across long distances,” she said. “Music was no longer regional; an artist could now have a much bigger impact.”
In 1965, when she was just 14 years old, Ian had her first hit, “Society’s Child,” a song about an interracial couple. She remembers getting the idea on the school bus one day when she saw a black boy and a white girl holding hands. The song was banned by radio because of its controversial subject matter, and it wasn’t until Leonard Bernstein featured her on his TV special that it became a top-10 hit.
That song established Ian as a writer of substance, but there were places in the country where she wasn’t welcome to tour. It provoked a hail of hate mail, and she said there were times when people would spit on her on the street.
Ian left the music industry soon after and didn’t return until Roberta Flack had a hit song with her composition, “Jesse.” The following year, her album, “Between the Lines,” was nominated for five Grammy awards and produced what she calls her “career song,” “At Seventeen.” Ian said that the song, which was a commentary on adolescent cruelty told from the perspective of an adult, was so difficult to write that it took her three months.
It’s a tribute to Ian’s songwriting abilities that other artists have covered many of her songs. Most memorably, Amy Grant recorded her song “What About Love” and Bette Midler recorded “Some People’s Lives.” Her songs also have been covered by Nanci Griffin, Joan Baez, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Dusty Springfield, Mary Black, Cher and John Mellencamp.
These days, Ian said she enjoys being in the lucky position of only doing the dates that she feels like doing.
“I’m ramping down,” she said. “I was doing up to 200 dates a year at some point, putting my partner through law school, but that was quite a while ago.”
She said that she also likes being able to pick her own projects and that the Grammy she received last year was “pretty cool.” She currently has another project up for Grammy consideration, an audio book about the life of Sister Miriam Therese Winter, a Medical Mission Sister.
Ian said that her Rose Lehrman show will be solo—just her and her guitar.
“I come out knowing pretty much what I’m going to open with and what I’m going to close with, and then I have a list of about 35 songs that I can pick and choose from,” she said. “Sometimes, someone in the audience will leave me a note asking for a particular song and, when that happens, I try to oblige.”
She added that the show will be pretty casual, with a lot of storytelling.
Attendees are welcome to come and talk to her after the show. She said that she will be glad to sign CDs and that people may bring their old vinyl to be signed, as well.
Janis Ian will perform at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center on HACC’s main campus in Harrisburg on Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. For more information and tickets, call 717-231-7673 or visit www.hacc.edu/RoseLehrmanArtsCenter.
