God & The Fbi

by Janis Ian

Product Description:

Personnel: Janis Ian (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, keyboards, acoustic bass, background vocals); Marc Moreau (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards, electric bass, drums, programming); Willie Nelson, John Cowan (vocals); Philip Clark (acoustic & electric guitars, drums, background vocals); Jim Cregan (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Chet Atkins (guitar); Matt Rollings (piano); Willie Weeks (bass); Steve Gadd (drums); Davis Liker (loops).

Producers: Jim Cregan, Janie Ian, Marc Moreau.

Japanese edition includes three extra songs ("Roses for the Damned," "Tune That In," and "Mary's Eyes").

CD contains 3 bonus tracks.

Ian's albums of the '90s got less and less spare as the decade progressed, and this one--her first of the new millennium--continues the trend; it actually sounds like somebody produced it with an ear to radio play. In any case, it's also one of her best efforts, full of lyrically sharp songs and interesting arrangments. Highlights include the title song, a wry modern talking blues about McCarthy-era political paranoia; "Play Like a Girl," that rarest of rarities on an Ian album, i.e. an out-and-out rocker; "Memphis," a genuinely poetic tribute to that city done as a duet with Willie Nelson; and "Boots Like Emmylou," a funny pseudo-country song in which Ian dreams of singing like Patsy Cline.