December 3, 2009 — Timeless folk icons Janis Ian and Susan Werner will share the stage during a unique double-bill performance at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009 at Stocker Arts Center.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under, and can be ordered online by clicking here, or by calling the Stocker Arts Center box office at 800 995-5222 (ext. 4040) from 12 p.m. - 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tickets are also available at the box office, located in the lobby of the Stocker Arts Center.

A teenager when she captured the ears and minds of America with her controversial song �Society�s Child� in 1965, Janis Ian remains one of the greatest songwriters in American history. Born on a chicken farm in New Jersey, Ian began playing the piano at the age of 2 and was a guitar whiz by age 10. She recorded her first album at 14 and quickly took her place at the forefront of the musical and Cultural Revolution as the long awaited female songwriter who could stand beside Bob Dylan. Her music won consistent attention and accolades, including her 1975 song �At Seventeen,� which received five Grammy nominations, the most any solo female artist had ever garnered.

Ian continued a cycle of recording and tours until she took a nine-year hiatus from music in 1983. During the time, she accumulated more life experiences, including marriage, divorce, acting class, emergency surgeries and losing her life savings. She returned to the music business with 1993�s Breaking Silence, which immediately garnered her ninth Grammy nomination.

Now in her fifth decade of songwriting, Ian continues to use her gifts to challenge and inspire. In 2008, she released her book, �Society�s Child: My Autobiography.� The book traces Janis' meteoric rise to fame in the 1960s and beyond and has received stellar reviews; Oprah's O Magazine called it "hugely readable" and recommended it as one of 27 must-reads this past summer, and Moho Magazine gave it a four-star review. At the same time, she also released a two-CD set titled �Best of Janis Ian: The Autobiography Songs.� Concert reviewers have called Ian�s live performances "overwhelming to the spirit and soul," and "drenched with such passion, the audience feels they've been swept up in a hurricane."

Susan Werner is one of the defining artists of folk music with songs that slide between folk, jazz and pop, delivered with wit and charm. She studied voice at Temple University, but was inspired by a Nanci Griffith concert to begin performing as a singer-songwriter at coffeehouses. She self-released her first album �Midwestern Saturday Night� in 1992, recorded �Live at Tin Angel� the following year, and �Last of the Good Straight Girls� in 1995. She added country and soul sounds to her vocal styling for �Time Between Trains� and 2001�s �New Non-Fiction.� In 2004 she released �I Can't Be New,� and in 2007 released �The Gospel Truth.� Werner�s new release �Classics� leverages all of her many talents, and adds "arranger" to her long list of musical accomplishments.

Werner is described as a daring and innovative songwriter with a killer live show. She boldly endeavors to weave old with new to create altogether new genres of music when existing ones do not suit her muse, and she keeps audiences guessing and laughing simultaneously.
If the Stocker show is not sold out by the evening of the performance, tickets will be available at half-off the adult ticket price, beginning at 6 p.m. at the box office.

For more information on Ian, visit www.janisian.com. For more information on Werner, visit www.susanwerner.com.