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Folk Is the New Black
Now in her fifth decade of recording, Janis Ian might be expected to slack off a bit--record a collection of covers, for example--but she still maintains the highest standards for herself in writing original and well-crafted songs based on snapshots from the human and political experience. Coming on the heels of 2004's extraordinary Billie's Bones, with its predominant jazz-blues shapings, Folk Is the New Black may seem a bit too much like a throwback, a slighter effort, particularly as the bookending songs, "Danger, Danger" and the title track evoke the classic '60s hootenanny protest forms without adding anything new or evoking much militant ire. But this beautifully conjured and executed album resonates with soul-shivering truth, and even mundane observations often glisten on the page as poetry. As each song spotlights a haunting moment in a lover's life ("All Those Promises"); tells the story of sad, ephemeral presence in this harsh ol' world ("Jackie Skates"); or uses Woody Guthrie-ish wit to illuminate an event in the artist's personal journey ("My Autobiography"), Ian proves time and again how she has continued to stand tall in the pantheon of America's finest singer-songwriters. --Alanna Nash
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Tracks| 1 | Danger Danger | | 2 | The Great Divide | | 3 | Life Is Never Wrong | | 4 | Jackie Skates | | 5 | All Those Promises | | 6 | Standing In The Shadows Of Love | | 7 | The Drowning Man | | 8 | Crocodile Song | | 9 | The Last Train | | 10 | My Autobiography | | 11 | Home Is The Heart | | 12 | Shadows On The Wind | | 13 | Haven't I Got Eyes | | 14 | Joy | | 15 | Folk Is The New Black |
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