Alaskan grown Janie Cowan is in love with the double bass.  Beginning the Suzuki method at age four and then finding the double bass at ten, she discovered at a young age both her insatiable curiosity regarding all forms of sound, and the warm welcome of a world that always seems to need more bass players.  Known for her uncanny sense of musical mind reading, Janie is a sought after recording and performing bassist in an incredibly wide range of genres.  Though her resume is vast, she has a particular affinity for balkan-roma music, south american rhythms, desert rockers, songwriters, ambient sonic explorers and the art of a solo performance.  Janie utilizes foot pedals to expand the roles and range of the double bass, she relies on drone techniques, figured bass traditions, rhythmic expression, fulfilling roles from the bass-line through melody, harmony, ambient texture and ethereal otherworldly transportation.  She lives for the beauty of a room united in the musical experience of the present moment. 

These sounds are best heard by checking out the releases from her record label, Asinine Records, including three albums she recorded with her duo project Sister John Angela as well as improvised works she releases with kindred, intrepid virtuosos. 

You can also hear her every Tuesday at the Copper Room in Yucca Valley, continuing her multi year residency of The Great American Songbook with trio Melancholy Babies.

​You will find her contented busking on the streets, in dance halls, dive bars, radio shows, doom metal festivals, sold out venues like Irving Plaza or the 100 Club, national parks, the Rothko Chapel, in a cave, or in your living room. 

 

​