Janis Ian - "Emmanuel" with vocals by her, Kye Fleming (co-author) and Beth Nielsen Chapman

We knew this song because of others who had recorded it. When we invited Janis to be a part of this show, she told us that her original recording of "Emmanual" had never been released, or heard by anyone. Janis Ian is one of the highest caliber songwriters. She teamed up with Kye Fleming on several songs, including this one. We asked Janis about Kye.

"I met Kye Fleming in 1986 on a trip to Nashville. Someone brought her backstage, I think it was her publisher, and thought we would write well together. Later, I learned that she and her partner, Dennis Morgan, had written all the Barbara Mandrell hits, all the Charlie Pride hits. This was from 1975 until 1981-2. They had single-handedly moved country music toward pop. They were the Garth Brooks writing team of the 70s; she was also BMI writer of the year for three or five years, beating out the Beatles, so she was pretty successful. The first song we wrote together was called 'Don't Rush the River,' a really wonderful song. We just hit it off and started writing. She's a wonderful writer who unfortunately doesn't write that much.

Beth Nielsen Chapman is a wonderful writer. I met Beth because she had written a song called 'Emily.' I heard her sing it at the Bluebird Cafÿ the first week she was in Nashville. It was by far one of the finest songs I had ever heard. She came out and stayed with Kye and me for a week when we were demo-ing 'Emmanuel,' so it just worked out that I had two other singers right there. That's always the big fun of it when you're doing things with harmonies. Like on 'God and the FBI,' where I had 3 male voices. I thought, 'Ooh, three men! Wow, I can do things with that!'"

When we talked to Beth Nielsen Chapman, she had this to say about working with Janis Ian: "I remember recording 'Emmanuel' with Janice Ian and it was an incredibly amazing thing for me. I think she's one of the great legendary songwriters - being a part of anything she did was really cool! She continues to write really powerful songs. That to me is a rare thing - for a songwriter to continue to be vibrant through so many different eras in music and sustain writing great material. [A poet's] integrity is to stay with what needs to be said and not what will get them more success in some musical genre. And Janice Ian is that kind of a poet - she has done both. She's had commercial success and she's gone for periods of time when her writing has just been poetry that may not be on MTV's radar screen at the moment. It's very nutritious work - very nutritious for those of us who are seeking out something.

Learn more about Janis Ian at janisian.com.