The home for Songs That Saved Your Life Radio on WKNY 107.9FM where Jami explores the very queer roots of rock n roll and plays a lot of great music!
This week on Songs That Saved Your Life, I’m honored to share a conversation with Janis Ian—a songwriter whose courage has matched her extraordinary talent for more than six decades.
At just 14 years old, Ian wrote “Society’s Child,” a ballad about an interracial romance and American racism that radio stations refused to play. Her father, a civil-rights activist, was already under FBI surveillance, and the backlash against the song only intensified that scrutiny. From an early age, Ian became a voice for social justice.
A decade later, she gave us “At Seventeen.” The song earned a Grammy and became a refuge for outsiders everywhere, especially queer listeners who heard themselves in every line.
Ian’s refusal to stay silent never wavered. In the early 1990s, during the height of the AIDS crisis, she came out publicly as gay and released Breaking Silence, a landmark album that confronted trauma, prejudice, and love with unflinching clarity.
In our interview, Ian reflects on her legacy of speaking truth to power. We also talk about the new documentary Janis Ian: Breaking Silence
Music in this episode includes songs by Billie Holiday, Odetta, Lead Belly, Nina Simone, Brandi Carslile, and Janis Ian’s own unforgettable songs.
