Tuesday, March 23, 2004 | 8:30 a.m.
Melancholy lyrics aside, Janis Ian is a funny woman.
She's an original troubadour whose longtime relationship with her fans is symbiotic.
Her life, even up to the point of having science fiction writers publish a book based on her lyrics, is unusually extraordinary.
Before breaking into the music industry at age 15 with a controversial song about interracial love (that was initially banned across the country), she grew up under the watchful eye of the FBI, which kept a file on her and her parents. By her early 20s she retired from the music industry, only to re-emerge with "At Seventeen," a lyrical commentary on the travails of female adolescence that would win her a Grammy Award.
Musically, it's no wonder fans cling to the 52-year-old songwriter. Her wistful lyrics and sultry voice hold little back. She keeps connected with fans by signing autographs after concerts and corresponds with them via her message board.
For $5,000 she'll sing in your living room to raise money for her nonprofit Pearl Foundation, which sends women to college in honor of her late mother.
On Thursday, Ian will perform at Whiskey Pete's in Primm as a stop on an eight-month tour that began this year in Europe with stops in Dublin, Amsterdam, London and Paris.
The tour follows the February release of "Billie's Bones," a 13-song song CD that pays homage to her lifelong admiration of blues legend Billie Holiday. The CD also features a compilation of traditional folk music, jazz and country.
Nashville's influence on the songwriter is apparent on "Billie's Bones." The CD even includes Dolly Parton singing backup in "My Tennessee Hills," Ian's ode to to the state that took her in when she was broke after trouble with the Internal Revenue Service and had to sell all her possessions.
Having Parton sing on "Billie's Bones" was a suggestion from Ian's spouse, Patricia Snyder, whom she legally married last year in Canada.
"I finished the song 'Tennessee Hills,'" "Ian said during a cellphone interview. "I played it for Pat, she said, 'Dolly should sing on that.' I said, 'Yeah, right.'
"I contacted her people who said Dolly didn't have time. Dolly liked the song and said she had time."
In addition to "My Tennessee Hills" with Dolly Parton, Ian recorded with Willie Nelson on "Memphis" from her "god and the fbi" album (2000), which also featured her friend Chet Atkins.
Still 'At Seventeen'
With 18 albums and nine Grammy Award nominations, Ian says she still gets requests for "At Seventeen" and says she never tires of playing it.
"I think it's a great thing," Ian said." It's a wonderful thing to have a song endure for 25 years."
The first year "At Seventeen" was released, Ian received 500 Valentine's Day cards from fans. Feeling vulnerable, she performed it for years with her eyes closed.
"That's such a personal, embarrassing song," Ian said.
But Ian is known for sharing herself, if not through music, then through her writing.
After five years as a columnist for the gay news magazine the Advocate, she proved to be a humorous and worthwhile storyteller, offering social commentary on current events and recounting such tales as a childhood crush on Joan Baez, whom Ian dreamed she would save from drowning as soon as Ian got her Junior Lifesaving Badge from the Red Cross.
In one column Ian offers her humorous perspective on watching readers react to her photo on the cover of the Advocate, first in a coffee shop and then in a health food restaurant, where Ian's photo was erroneously confused with Phoebe Snow or Rhea Perlman (Carla from "Cheers.")
The columns can still be read on her website, www.janisian.com.
More seriously, Ian has written about how the FBI's watchful glare on her family caused her father, a chicken farmer who later became a teacher, to not receive tenure at the schools he worked. But she even uses humor in referring to the experience on her website:
"My dad was a chicken farmer who made the mistake of going to a meeting in south Jersey about the price of eggs; they picked him up for questioning the next day. We were on the watch list from then on. It took me nine years to get our FBI files. Mine was disappointingly thin -- I'd hoped I was more of a threat than that!"
Being funny, Ian said, "It's something I discovered when I started to open my mouth between songs onstage. I write serious songs. I have to be able to joke about being a depressing songwriter."
Acoustic Routes
Dubbed feisty by media members who have written about her controversial support of Napster and Internet downloads, among other issues, Ian sounds merely eager on the telephone, like someone who's plenty happy with what she's doing.
She has a busy schedule ahead. But on the day of this interview, a Thursday, a day off, it's "a laundry day."
"We got back from Europe yesterday," Ian said as her two-man tour crew could be heard in the background. "It was great. We were sold out everywhere. It's great because it was actually a teaser for when we return in the fall."
Ian's stop in Primm this week was arranged by Nancy Godfrey, co-founder of the Las Vegas Acoustic Routes concert series, which gives Las Vegans a chance to attend performances by acoustic musicians who might not otherwise perform in the area.
Though musicians normally perform at Las Vegas Little Theatre, Acoustic Routes is branching out to the showroom at Whiskey Pete's to allow for larger acts, such as Ian.
"She's seminal," Godfrey, who is an Ian fan dating to "Society's Child," said. "She typifies acoustic music. She came out in the '50s and '60s, she hung in there into the disco era and went away for a while. And she came back after. Like James Taylor. They're the amazing rebound performers. Their music is timeless."
Writing in Nashville
Ian retired from music a second time in the 1980s, then returned in 1993 with the CD "Breaking Silence." "Billie's Bones" follows a long-requested live album, "Working Without a Net."
Though moving to Nashville might seem an odd decision for a Jewish lesbian from New Jersey, to Ian it made sense.
"It's a songwriter's town," Ian said. "That's the main thing. Nashville is where the writers are. I'm a better writer for it.
"They've been great to me. They gave me a home when I was really homeless."
The outtakes from the Parton/Ian recording sessions are featured on Ian's website, as is the sheet music and written drafts for songs from "Billie's Bones."
She posted the information because fans were asking why it took so long to record an album, and were curious about what her plans were for some of the songs.
"They just didn't realize the amount of effort and sheer planning of it," Ian said.
Over the years Ian fans have been finicky, dating to "At Seventeen," when they criticized her for selling out to mainstream audiences.
"I don't worry about it," Ian said. "To me, my obligation is to do the best show I can. They're welcome to offer their opinion. There is one fan that hates this version of 'Paris In Your Eyes.'
"I just got an e-mail from a guy today who wrote, 'I love the album, but I hate gay marriage.' "
The e-mail was in reference to Ian's relationship to Snyder. Ian didn't seem offended.
"It's really about the music," Ian said. "I've been real clear with my fans. My personal life is my personal life."
But with a life so unique and a knack for storytelling, has she considered an autobiography?
"I get offered a biography every couple of years, since I was 15," Ian said. "I'm actually starting to take them seriously."
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