Janis Ian Celebrates the Resurgence of Vinyl With Special Edition of The Light at the End of the Line
Published
Janis Ian Celebrates the Resurgence of Vinyl
With Special Edition of The Light at the End of the Line
“All you have to do is listen
To the Janis Ian song ‘At Seventeen’
And understand how hard life was for me, and her, and other people.
I listen to that song probably once a week.
It’s so beautiful and it’s such a heartfelt struggle of self-hood.”
Oscar-winning Actress Jamie Lee Curtis of one of Ian’s iconic songs
Janis Ian’s album The Light at the End of the Line
available in vinyl, CD, and digital formats
“Every vocal track on this was recorded at a live show or is a ‘first take’ vocal,” explains the iconic singer/songwriter, who was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 2023 GRAMMY Awards. “If you hear the occasional breath or spit sound, that’s why. We did as little to everything as possible. No vocal limiting or compression. Enjoy!”
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said last month that vinyl has made a “remarkable resurgence.” Their report states that 41 million vinyl records were sold in 2022, which is 27.7% higher than the 33 million CDs sold in the same year. Additionally, the RIAA reports that vinyl records made up a total of 70% of all physical music sales for last year.
The signed vinyl version of The Light at the End of the Line is available at www.janisian.com for $59.95, and a percentage of all sales will go to the Janis Ian Archives Fund at Berea College. The critically acclaimed release is also available on her site in all other formats as well.
Since its release in January 2022 on her own Rude Girl Records, The Light at the End of the Line, which was No. 35 on the FAI Folk Chart Top Albums of the Month for February while Ian was listed at No. 22 on their Top Artists chart that same month, has been widely recognized as not only Ian at the top of her game but as one of the best folk records of the past year. Along with the GRAMMY nomination, she was honored with the Artist of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Folk Music Awards 2023. The release, which is Ian’s first record of all-new material in 15 years, also landed on numerous year-end lists, including Jim Farber’s “Best 12 Albums of 2022” in A.A.R.P. The Magazine, the U.K.’s Arts Desk’s Best Albums of 2022, Australia’s Rhythms Magazine Top 10 Albums of the Year for 2022, and WFUV’s veteran on-air host Darren DeVivo’s Top 25 Favorite Albums of 2022, among others.
Along with the critical adoration, creatives from all walks of entertainment and pop culture have been showing their appreciation for the legendary artist. In the past year, Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) and his daughter, Violet, performed Ian’s hit “At Seventeen” together onstage, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote about the song’s importance on his Substack blog, and Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Halloween franchise) shared her personal relationship to the timeless song with E! News.
In opening up about the struggles she had with knowing her own worth, Curtis told E! News, “All you have to do is listen to the Janis Ian song ‘At Seventeen’ and understand how hard life was for me, and her, and other people. I listen to that song probably once a week. It’s so beautiful and it’s such a heartfelt struggle of self-hood, of looking in the mirror and trying to understand who we are. It’s a particularly poignant time for me, adolescence — I hated it.”
Nearly 50 years after the release of “At Seventeen,” which won the 1976 GRAMMY Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Ian is still releasing music that bravely provokes, moves, and inspires people of all generations.
Along with CD and download versions of Between the Lines (the album that includes “At Seventeen”) as well as CD, download, and the vinyl edition of The Light at the End of the Line, Ian’s website also offers up album downloads of Janis’ music catalog, full lyrics, digital sheet music, audiobooks, and more.
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