Music Icon Janis Ian Wraps Banner Year With GRAMMY Nom, Archival Project, And Critical Acclaim
Music Icon Janis Ian Wraps Banner Year
With GRAMMY Nom, Archival Project, And Critical Acclaim
“Even if Ian is stepping off the train
of touring and making albums,
her light will continue to shine brightly
through this collection (The Light at the End of the Line)
of illuminating lyrics and enduring music.”
— Folk Alley
Last Call! Ian’s Music
And Memorabilia Sale Ends January 1, 2023!
LOS ANGELES — “If The Light at the End of the Line is indeed Ian’s final release, she retires on elevated ground,” wrote No Depression. So true, as the iconic singer/songwriter closes out a banner year that marks the end of her singing and touring career as she knew it, with quite a bang.
This past year saw Ian release her first album of new material in 15 years (The Light at the End of the Line), garner her 10th GRAMMY nomination (for Best Folk Record), re-release her iconic No. 1 album, 1975’s Between the Lines, embark on a massive archival project with Berea College, and begin looking to the future with plans to release older, previously unreleased, and rare material.
Though she announced that The Light at the End of the Line is her final solo studio album, and she is unable to tour due to scarring on her vocal cords, this icon is not retiring, she’s rewiring. “Life as an artist is far from over,” says Ian. “We’re talking about using recordings made before I lost my ability to sing to create a duets album, releasing work tapes, live shows, songs you’ve never heard — there are literally hundreds of pieces still available.” More details to come. In the meantime, Ian has scoured her vaults for special music, merchandise, and memorabilia from a six-decade career to offer for sale at store.janisianstore.com. The sale, which includes signed and unsigned albums and merchandise, the new vinyl release of The Light at the End of the Line, and the new definitive CD version of Between the Lines, as well as hundreds of other items, has been extended to end January 1, 2023 because it has been so successful.
Though 2022 is bittersweet, given what she’s gone through, she’s happy to go out on a high note, having released one of the most critically acclaimed records of the year. Here is what the media has to say…
On Her Latest Album,
The Light at the End of theLine
No Depression: “Janis Ian moves seamlessly between activistic declarations and descriptive verse, her melodies crystalline, her voice imbued with hard-won wisdom.”
PopMatters: “There’s the clever, caustic political bent of her earliest work, the reflective, sophisticated pop of her CBS years, the folk-orientated styles of her 1990s Nashville comeback, and where she stands today. It’s all here.”
AllMusic: “Her final LP, 2022’s The Light at the End of the Line, was a fittingly eclectic blend of folk, rock, and pop influences, and dealt with both personal and political themes with both defiance and cautious optimism.”
NJArts: “Janis Ian continues making profound statements on her final album, The Light at the End of the Line. We recognize ourselves in her songs and feel release when she sings of taboo or painful subjects, including incest, the Holocaust, sexual violence, spousal abuse, and racial injustice.”
Alburquerque Journal: “Janis Ian has a way of stringing together words that make an impact. The Light at the End of the Line bookends a kaleidoscopic catalog that began with her 1967 self-titled debut at age 15.”
American Highways: “The legendary songwriter Janis Ian never shied away from tough subjects in her songwriting and her latest album is no exception. But the beauty of her songwriting is in its simplicity and ability to deliver deep emotions, and here she delivers both.”
Folk Alley: “Every song on Ian’s album, peers into the shadowy corners of our existence, twirling through the labyrinthine paths of memory and presence, honoring the artists whose music inhabits her soul, and look forward with hope to a day when ‘we will dance, we will sing/in that never-ending spring’.”
On The Light at the End of the Line being her final record
No Depression: “If The Light at the End of the Line is indeed Ian’s final release, she retires on elevated ground, affirming her stylistic and perspectival legacies while exhibiting once more how she has continued to evolve artistically and, more importantly, as a human being.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “At age 71, Janis Ian may be getting ready to retire, but she is not going quietly.”
PopMatters: “Ian’s last album? So she says. If so, she’s gone out on fighting… The Light at the End of the Line is not just a good one – it says goodbye by linking the different phases of Ian’s career.”
Folk Alley: “Even if Ian is stepping off the train of touring and making albums, her light will continue to shine brightly through this collection of illuminating lyrics and enduring music.”
ground,” wrote No Depression. So true, as the iconic singer/songwriter closes out a banner year that marks the end of her singing and touring career as she knew it, with quite a bang.
