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Janis Ian Opens Up About Losing Her Voice, Industry Frustrations & Agreeing to Make a Documentary

Janis Ian and director Varda Bar-Kar talk about making the 'Janis Ian: Breaking Silence' documentary.

We watch the turmoil of the Civil Rights era inspire Ian, a 14-year-old girl from a farm town in New Jersey, to write “Society’s Child,” a song about an interracial romance smothered by external prejudices. Named after the album that came out when she did, the film uses Ian’s unusually insightful music, her memories and fresh interviews with Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Lily Tomlin, Laurie Metcalf, Jean Smart, the late Brooks Arthur and others to tell the story of her impact and importance. Ian and Bar-Kar sat down with Billboard one morning in Manhattan to discuss making the film, frustrations with music licensing, why the former’s performance on the first-ever episode of Saturday Night Live isn’t included in this doc and plenty more.

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