Janis Joplin Unpublished Photos To Be Released In New Book

Janis Joplin & Sam Andrew, Albert Grossman’s office, NYC, 1968. © Elliott Landy/LandyVision

While the world still struggles to deal with a pandemic that seems like it will never end, we have all had to deal with so much hardship, tragedy, broken businesses, and a whole lot more to which we could all write stories about. Yet, in trying to stay positive in some sort of way we could look at the pandemic and find that there are some consequences that are not all bad. As many artists from musicians, songwriters, journalists, authors, photographers, and many others discovered, having a lot of free time in quarantine resulted in taking a look around the basement, up in the attic, and even rummaging through those boxes tucked away in the back of closets. So many people had more free time than they had ever had in their life.

Within the past few months, it seems we are starting to see the results of that free time. Artists are starting to release albums recorded in lockdowns like Elton John, Fiona Apple, The Strokes and so many more. However, what many of us old rock fans are discovering is that there are documents just being released from over fifty years ago that we have never seen before. The Beatles documentary Get Back is a defining moment in looking back.

At the same time, The Beatles were filming Let It Be and creating their last two albums there was an astonishing female rock and roll singer who had just played Woodstock a year earlier in 1969 named Janis Joplin. To classic rock fans, Janis Joplin needs no introduction. Documenting her performance at Woodstock as well as many other performances was a well-known photographer by the name of Elliott Landy.

At Woodstock, Elliott Landy captured Janis Joplin in her most relaxing moments off stage as well as her most thrilling onstage. Elliott Landy was only a few feet from her on stage when Janis Joplin was performing. While only a handful of those photographs have been published over the years, a hundred photographs have remained in Elliot Landy’s possession that has never been published. That will all change in February of 2022 when Elliot Landy releases his new book entitled Photographs of Janis Joplin On The Road & On Stage.

Elliott Landy was not just covering Janis Joplin at Woodstock, he was also the official photographer of the legendary weekend at Woodstock in update New York during the 1969 Woodstock festival. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event that Elliott Landy witnessed and as an artist himself, captured moments that would be forever immortalized in classic rock history.

Elliott Landy spent two years photographing Janis Joplin in 1968 and 1969. With over a hundred photographs that have never been released before, Elliott Landy has decided to release what we can imagine will be a remarkable book of mostly unseen photographs along with some of his well-known images of a star that passed away too soon at the young age of twenty-seven. We have already seen about a dozen of those photographs as they are just simply stunning. There is not a lot of material on Janis Joplin and so a book like this is a huge story. Combined with those Elliott Landy photographs of Janis Joplin will be excerpts of interviews that Janis Joplin did with Rolling Stone editor David Dalton. The photographs have been matched with the interviews and conversations Janis Joplin had with David Dalton and will appear together in the new book.

Janis Joplin, Reception, Grande Ballroom, 1968 ©Elliott Landy/LandyVision

A book like this is a significant primary source in classic rock history because it’s being released by the man who witnessed the moments and who took the photographs in his own artistic way. Dalton and Landy are as much a primary source as is Janis Joplin and those surrounding her in the photographs. These documents take us into intimate settings that we never would have ever been allowed to witness without the work of an artist like Elliott Landy or a journalist like David Dalton. We must never take for granted that there are certain characteristics about photographers like Elliott Landy and journalists like David Dalton that made rock stars like Janis Joplin allow them to get close enough to document who they are.

For those who are interested in reserving a signed copy of the book which runs close to 200 pages and contains one hundred and twenty nine photographs, just click on the book title link below. They are running a kickstarter campaign for the next month that will allow collectors to purchase some unique items with the book on the link provided below.

Photographs of Janis Joplin On the Road & On Stage

All photographs in this article are the work of Elliot Landy and may not be copied or shared in any way. They are posted in this article with permission. For more information on Elliott Landy contact Caitlin Allyson at caitlin@landyvision.com. To learn more about the work of Elliot Landy who stands as one of the most important photographers in classic rock history (Elliott Landy photographed the covers of Bob Dylan’s legendary Nashville Skyline album as well as Van Morrison’s extraordinary Moondance cover and The Band albums Music From Big Pink and The Band album covers) you can visit his site at elliottlandy.com

Updated March 15 2022

Editors Note: The book has been published. Below is the link which you can use to purchase the book

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781493061273/Photographs-of-Janis-Joplin-On-the-Road-and-On-Stage

Classicrockhistory.com claims ownership of all its original content and Intellectual property under United States Copyright laws and those of all other foreign countries. No one person, business or any organizations is allowed to re-publish any of our original content anywhere on the web or in print without our permission. Photographs in this article are owned and copyrighted by Elliott Landy.