Janie Barnett: An Unlikely Renegade – The Songs of Cole Porter

Born into Gilded Age luxury, Cole Porter defied family expectations to forge a life in popular music, trading classical expectations for exotic melodies, harmonic innovation and modern rhythms coupled with sophisticated, urbane lyrics packed with cultural references, sexual innuendo, and complex rhymes. In so doing, Porter wrote the songs that form the backbone of the Great American Songbook – timeless numbers that have transcended generations. Join award-winning singer and arranger Janie Barnett as she turns Porter’s sophisticated classics on their head, reinterpreting them with raw, rootsy soul.

“The Sophisticate of Tin Pan Alley,” Cole Porter never lived in the Village, though he wrote the music and the lyrics for the 1924 Greenwich Village Follies which played at the Greenwich Village Theater on Sheridan Square. The neighborhood’s bohemian energy fueled his creativity and fit perfectly with his lifestyle: It’s well-documented that Porter lived a passionate life as a closeted gay man while in a long marriage with Linda Thomas.

Folk-Americana artist Janie Barnett has reimagined Porter’s songs in the rootsy style she so loves. Arrangements featuring fiddle, mandolin, dobro, accordion, upright bass, and piano resonate naturally and passionately, testament to the timelessness of his catalogue. The lust and longing of “So in Love” and “You Do Something to Me” shine through the accordion, harmonica, and slide guitar, while the 1940s Django Reinhart rendition of “Les Yeux Noir” is one that Cole would have heard in his beloved Paris.

Janie is joined by outstanding instrumentalists from across the musical spectrum:

• pianist Ben Stivers;
• violinist Sara Caswell;
• accordion and harmonica player Gary Schreiner;
• bassist Richard Hammond, fresh from Hamilton;
• and multi-instrumentalists Ann Klein and Larry Saltzman.

Expect some special guest duet partners.

And remember what Cole said: “To get respect at the upper-crust fest / You've got to be immaculately dressed." So, glad rags all round!