Jane was born in Bethesda, Maryland, by the banks of the Potomac River, where the muddy waters flow and the political winds blow – a crossroads, where the marble front steps of the US Capitol meet the misty foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Jane was raised by a classical pianist father and a writer mother from Texas. Music in her parents’ house included Brahms and Chopin on the piano, Huddie Leadbelly on the record player, and rock ‘n roll on the transistor radio that Jane bought at a Sinclair gas station when she was 9.
She fell in love with the icons of American roots – Cajun Balfa Brothers, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Bill and Charlie Monroe – sitting in the shadow of the Washington Monument on the lawn of the Smithsonian on hot summer nights. Her parents started her on the piano at 8, but she gave it up when her teacher wouldn’t help her play Beatle songs.
Jane picked up her first guitar when she was 12, the first of many harmonicas when she was 14, and the mountain dulcimer, mandolin and banjo along the way. In her hands they ring like strings of a folk-rock-mountain orchestra. When Jane’s intelligent lyrics entwine with her pop sensibility and rootsy textures - it’s a grounded sound that hooks both head and heart.
Jane stepped on her first stage at 15 at the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda, where she sang at Monday night folk hoots while in high school. But she found her real place of beginning after moving to Austin at 17 to attend the University of Texas. By 1981, she’d recorded her first album with the popular band, Eaglebone Whistle (Eaglebone Whistle, Philo Records) and had begun to find her own unique groove.
“Songwriting was elusive to me for several years,” Jane says. “I didn’t think I had songs in me…then I got my heart broke, and out came a song.”
That first song, “All I Can Do,” was first recorded by Eaglebone Whistle (1981) and again on Jane’s first collection of original songs, Pick It Up in 1986 (Green Linnet Records).
In 1990, Jane released her second solo work, Jane Gillman (Green Linnet Records). Following several years on the road as a solo artist, Jane toured for 3 years with her friend Darcie Deaville. They recorded a highly acclaimed album titled Ways to Fly in 1994. Six years later, Jane was back in the studio with Louisiana chanteuse Marce Lacouture. Their band Rue La La recorded Sky On Blue (Riverwheel Records, 2000), a Cajun-inspired collection Jane describes as “ethereal swamp.”
Jane’s sixth album, List of Wishes (High Road Records, 2007) brings a sense of wisdom to the wonder and curiosity that runs throughout Gillman intelligent-folk music. Jane’s eyes and ears are finely tuned to the romance and mystery of life, and at the same time, she knows how to turn a good hook. Many artists have sung Jane’s songs along the way, including Nanci Griffith, Christine Albert, the Chenille Sisters, and Meridian Green/ Gene Parsons.
Jane continues to forge her own sound. She plays instruments no one else plays…a stand-up electric dulcimer, a Cajun harmonica. She calls her styles “jangle folk” and “urban mountain.” She says she’s getting more adventurous as a writer.
“I’m much more willing to venture into darkness, quirkiness – less willing to settle for what’s on the surface.”
A woman who has walked the roads of life in her bare feet with a guitar on her back, a harmonica in her pocket, and a heart wide open – Jane can tell you what’s ahead on the road and what the stars look like shining through the windshield.
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