Photo by Jennifer Rothstein
By Kim Smith
Opportunity has always surrounded Los Angeles musician Janet Robin. Legendary Randy Rhoads of Ozzy Osbourne fame, who lived around the corner from her house, taught her how to play guitar. Described as one of the best guitarists in the country, Janet Robin has played with Lindsay Buckingham, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, Michelle Shocked and has opened for Meredith Brooks and Air Supply.
With all of the success she’s had as a guitarist, Janet Robin had left her solo music career largely to chance, until she sent an email to Music Producer John Carter Cash:
“I’m all about putting it out into the universe. I have nothing to lose.”
Six months later, Janet Robin began recording the songs on her recent CD release Everything Has Changed at the historic Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, TN, just outside of Nashville. Robin wrote the lyrics in her Prague apartment in November 2008 when she had a few days off from touring. Inspired by a gray, rainy winter, she put it all down on paper.
“Sometimes when I’m feeling low, I write the happiest songs and when I’m feeling happy, I write the most depressing songs. I wanted this record to have a mix of both, because that’s what life is.”
Janet Robin’s song lyrics are wrapped around the elements of love — hope, expectation, disappointment, loss, being vulnerable, and the gradual and often pained process of rebuilding one’s self. On track one of her CD, “View From Above,” Robin sings, “You might just catch me down on my knees / I pray for the sunshine over the sea / I don’t have a penny, but I feel the heat.”
In “Rumor,” Janet Robin reconciles with her ex-girlfriend of 15 years, while she struggles in a relationship that is beginning to show its cracks. She sings, “You’ve been gone so long / I don’t know what I’m seeing.”
Everything Has Changed, her fifth CD, features a more mature sound that flows through her chord patterns and guitar rifts, both electric and acoustic, while her songwriting reaches a new depth. “I wanted meaningful song lyrics, not some cheesy pop song.”
John Carter Cash, son of Johnny and June, was drawn to Janet Robin’s sound and invited her to Nashville.
To fund the recording of her album, Janet Robin followed in the footsteps of pioneer women artists Ani Difranco and Jill Sobule. Robin called out to the patrons of the arts, asking for donations and sponsorship. For the past 10-15 years she’s been working on building her fan base in the Czech Republic. These fans, along with US patrons, came through for her. “I didn’t want investors, but rather angel sponsors. ‘Do you want to sponsor me because you believe in my music?’”
Since the recording and release of Everything Has Changed, Janet Robin has been signed by European independent record label, Hypertension, which represents Joan Armatrading, Mick Fleetwood and Gerry Rafferty. She will be returning to the Cash Cabin studio to record two more songs to complete the exclusive Hypertension release. Then Europe gets Janet Robin all to themselves, as she begins her year-long tour in November.
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