Janie Barnett Pays Tribute to Cole Porter, 'Americana-Style,' April 17 at Boston's City Winery

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Janie Barnett comes to Boston's City Winery on Thursday, April 17 to perform her unique and stunning Cole Porter Show – with a twist: Porter Americana-style.

This uniquely masterful New York-based singer-songwriter and session musician will present her Americana alt-jazz concert of reimagined Cole Porter songs. Her 2023 album "Under My Skin" brought together luminaries from Nashville to New York to reinterpret the maestro's most beautiful songs and Janie's Americana orchestra will perform them live, with special duet partners, to offer a night of sultry, folk-jazzy, and even bluegrass-tinged arrangements. Some of the best in the business to sooth our souls!

Janie Barnett has performed and/or recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Rickie Lee Jones, Celine Dion, Bonnie Raitt and Jimmy Buffett, among many others. She performed on Saturday Night Live with Rickie Lee and was heard all over the world on the infamous Diet Coke campaigns!

"We treasure our legacy artists who have fought to be who they truly are. Cole Porter wanted to be successful in the mainstream music business, and he succeeded in every way, but personally he lived a 'behind the curtain' life in many ways. In the world today, we have to remember this, and the difficult strategies someone like Cole Porter had to live by. How many artists are now behind a kind of curtain? I love the music, and I have an unlikely affinity for Cole's otherness," states Janie.

"For this show, all proceeds of CD sales will be designated to the activist group Mass Equality. It's a small gesture that I just hope will resonate in terms of those efforts we can all make during this challenging time," she also states.

Though married and closeted, Porter was famously gay during a period when homosexuality was outlawed and persecuted. He often peppered his lyrics with queer references that acted as Easter eggs to those who decoded them. Theater historian Ethan Mordden writes in his book "Gays on Broadway": "Porter positively radiated gay: he was smart and playful, extremely aware of (and friendly with) the boldface names of the day, and an admirer of fabulous women, the saucy and glamorous personalities that make show biz go. All this is the urban gay style – as was Porter's sexual worldview, favoring men who were neither saucy nor fabulous: trade."

Porter was one of major players in the creation of the Great American Songbook – the titles integral to jazz and cabaret performers to this day. From the 1930s through the 1950s he collaborated on a string of Broadway hits, which include "Anything Goes" and "Kiss Me, Kate," and contributed to film scores with such song titles as "Night and Day," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Begin the Beguine," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "Anything Goes," "Love for Sale," "Easy to Love," "You're the Top," and "From this Moment On." What makes them great is the elegance and sophistication of his melodies combined with the sassy verve and clever word play of his lyrics. Over the years his songs have been performed by pop and jazz artists such as Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, and Tony Bennett. In 2021 Bennett collaborated with Lady Gaga on "Love for Sale," an album of Porter standards.

"Cole's songs are some of the most iconic and enduring love songs of the 20th century era of great stage and jazz composers," says Janie. "But did you know that in 1990 – over 30 years ago – a two-disc compilation of Cole Porter songs was released? Entitled "Red, Hot + Blue," it raised funds for the group Act Up for its activist work and in support of the victims of the AIDS Crisis. It is considered the first benefit project of its kind."

Janie sees this as the right moment to celebrate this 20th century queer icon at a moment with the community is under attack.

"Right now, so many communities are feeling marginalized, including the LGBTQ+ community. So many of us feel under attack. It's an important opportunity for each of us to choose small and large ways to support and celebrate our diversity. The songs and the life of Cole Porter always deserve our celebration, now and always. The timeless songs stand outside of social issues. But Cole's journey of expression and repression feel particularly relevant at this juncture. In the future we plan to bring this album project into a full fundraising capacity. Right now, the shows go on, reminding the world of this remarkably talented composer, whose private life was made that much more complex, for the biases of the times in which he lived."

Janie's band for the Boston show will feature Mark Shilansky on piano, Marty Ballou on acoustic bass, Sara Caswell on fiddle, Dan Bui on mandolin, Gary Schreiner on accordion and harmonica and Special Guest vocalists Rene Pfister, Jonathan Gallegos and Nichele Mungo.

Thursday, April 17 at 7:30 PM is the date. Doors will open at 6 PM. Stage premier tickets are $25 and and general admission tickets are $20. Kindly note there is a $25 minimum spend on food and beverage per person for this show. City Winery Boston is located at 80 Beverly Street, Boston, MA 02114. Visit the City Winery website for more information.