The Mary Janes

The Bloomington, IN outfit the Mary Janes draws from an eclectic array of sources that span country icons Hank Williams and the Carter Family on one end and indie-rock pioneers the Velvet Underground on the other. Fronting the ensemble is singer/guitarist Janas Hoyt, an Indianapolis native. Following time spent in New York during the 1980s, Hoyt came back to Indiana and entered the Vulgar Boatmen, the collaborative songwriting and recording project shared by ex-Gizmo member Dale Lawrence and Robert Ray. Between 1992 and 1994 she contributed backing vocals to that act, while also launching the Mary Janes in 1993 as a side endeavor alongside violist Kathy Kolata, herself a member of the Boatmen. Label complications postponed the band’s first album for several years, yet Record No. 1 finally appeared in 1999 to widespread critical approval. In the late 1990s Hoyt also lent her voice to a pair of recordings by fellow Indiana native John Mellencamp. The Mary Janes issued their second album, Flame, in March 2001.