Janie Herron Conway once got chucked out of a folk club for playing electric dulcimer. She was the support act for Frank Zappa when he toured Australia – and was one of the first women in the Melbourne music scene to play electric guitar.

That was in the late 1960’s through to the 1980s, when Melbourne’s vibrant music scene was still growing. These days, you may know her as Dr Janie Herron Conway – the long standing creative writing lecturer from Southern Cross University.

Now retired from academia, Janie has immersed herself in recording music again and writing novels. She now has a new novel and album Another Song About Love and will be launching them next Saturday at Lismore’s Music Bizarre.

Music roots

While Janie is perhaps best known in the Northern Rivers for her work as a creative writing lecturer and course coordinator at Southern Cross University, Janie’s first love has always been music.

“In 1967, I started playing in folk clubs,” Janie said. “Many people don’t know I did that.

“I was born in Sydney and moved to Melbourne at about six years old and my extended family were all musical. My cousin was a folk singer on who played on Bandstand and inspired me to play guitar.

“The first time I plucked a guitar string, I fell in love with it and started pestering my parents for a guitar.

“I was taught to play classical guitar by Susan May – the daughter of the creator of Maton guitars. I learned by watching, practicing and memorising pieces and never learned to read the music.

“Then I was asked to be in folk groups at school - and I could sing moderately well - so it was a natural progression into the folk world.”

Touring

With her ex-husband, Janie started a band called Myriad and was asked to be the support act for Frank Zappa when he toured Australia.

“We got the job because Zappa thought the scheduled support act McKenzie Theory Band were too much like him - they were experimental – and we were very different,” Janie said. “I was a hippie and played recorder on songs too – I’ve started playing it again recently.

“I never actually met Zappa – I met the rest of the band, but Zappa always came late, then was on stage and left quickly.

“I was one of the first women in Australia to play electric guitar in a time when women were singers in bands. I was inspired by Neil Young and Bob Dylan.

“We were a popular band, recorded albums and toured and when we split up and Myriad finished, I found myself as a single mum.

“I wanted to keep going with the music – I’d seen bands like Skyhooks and Paul Kelly came out of that same music scene.

Stiletto

“I went out on my own into other bands and then I joined Stiletto. Our first supper shows were sold out and we made a go of it.

“At the time, I really wanted to come and live on North Coast, by my child’s father was in Melbourne. Eventually, I moved to Sydney and started other bands and had a hit on the dance club scene – a Grace Jones style song.

Sydney

“In Sydney, my son and I were living in a small house and I worried if music could support us.

“Then my cousin suggested I go to university and I started a Communications degree at the University of Technology in Sydney.

“It was great - full of wonderful ideas and I started learning creative writing and theory. There were marvellous people there and great discussion.

“That’s when I wrote my original manuscript for my new novel. At the same time, I started a PhD, got a scholarship and then moved to the Far North Coast.

Lismore

Janie found her way into academia at Southern Cross University - beginning as a casual – and staying for 20 years.

“Apart from the enormous hours and pressure, it’s best job in world,” she said. “I was lucky to get tenure when I did.”

Retirement

When Janie retired from teaching creative writing at SCU a few years ago, she needed a writing project to sink her teeth into.

“I had lots of novels in mind,” she said. “I had an experimental work about memory under the bed. I did it for my masters at UTS - and Allen and Unwin were interested as a publisher in the early 1990s.

“But when I started my PhD, it took over and I left the manuscript under the bed.

“Then I wrote my novel Beneath the Grace of Clouds. It told the story of the 1788 colonisation of Australia from the point of view that it was an invasion.

“Another Song about Love stayed under the bed for 15 years.”

Fiction

Retirement inspired Janie to pull out the original manuscript of Another Song about Love.

Janie describes it as a fictional memoir of a year in the life of a woman in the early 1980s Melbourne music scene. Janie said it’s based on her own experiences, but it’s definitely a work of fiction.

“The main character Lilly Bloom tries to get a band together and juggles her life between being a single mum, her music and non-monogamy – which is what we called polyamoury back then,” Janie laughed.

“It’s a juggle for Lilly and a look at coming of age and what makes a performer - the need to communicate and the need to be loved.

“The book is a meditation on being a woman in rock n roll – and how difficult it was to get to gigs on time and still be glamorous.

Chapter titles and songs

“At first, the book chapter titles were well known 1980s songs, but I thought why don’t I use my own songs?

“So, while I was rewriting the novel from third to first person, I started recording old songs and writing new songs. I recorded them with my son Tamlin Tregonning, who is a fabulous musician and producer.

“The songs don’t retell the stories of the chapters, but the title song tells story of being on the road night after night.

“The project took six years – and I brought to life characters based on my experiences.

“People wanted me to write the dirt on the Carlton music scene but I’m not going to name names – it’s not an expose. I prefer to explore the inner life.”

Pandemic

Janie said the book and CD Another Song about Love were both all ready for launch at the time the Covid pandemic hit, but Covid put a stop to gigs and launches.

With no festivals to take her music to, Janie turned to online distribution platforms and has been on a steep learning curve is bringing her music and words to Spotify, Kindle and her website.

Janie said Covid was hard for artists and musicians.

“You get despondent, with no opportunity for gigs,” she said. “Gigs give you a focus and make you want to do things better. You can meet and play and have a lovely time, but the gigs make you take it to a different standard.

“I can play at home, but I want to get out there."

Future

Janie said she still has lots more novels to write and has a band she sings with called Jatika. She’s not giving up on the music and will keep creating until it’s ok to play gigs again.

Book and album launch

The launch of Another Song about Love is at Music Bizarre on Magellan Street on Saturday, October 10, at 12pm. Because of Covid number restrictions, only a limited number of people can attend.

If you would like to go, email Janie at [email protected]

Buy

You can buy the book and CD at Book Warehouse on Keen Street, at Music Bizarre or, download it on Spotify, Kindle, or from Janie’s website http://www.janieconwayherron.com