God and the FBI, provisionally titled In Dog Years I'm Dead,[4] is the seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Janis Ian, originally released in 2000 by Windham Hill Records.

[6] Consequently, Ian abandoned the commercial pretensions of previous releases, doing a large portion of the sessions in-house rather than in a studio, and doing ten songs with a single band.

[7] Shortly before she began writing the album, Ian obtained FBI files on her parents and learned that her family had been under surveillance since 1950, before she was born.

[7] Ian played guitar, piano, and banjo, as well as handling the string and vocal arrangements, while enlisting collaborators including Phillip Clark, Jim Cregan, Marc Moreau, and Chet Atkins.

[7] While writing one track, "Memphis", Ian reported finding herself "stuck", so she called fellow singer-songwriter Deana Carter for advice.

[13] "Boots Like Emmy Lou's" is a Dixieland-styled tribute to female country artists including Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton.

[15] The Washington Post music critic Geoffrey Himes called God and the FBI "neither Ian's best album nor her worst, but [...] her most diverse".

"[16] In 2002, John Stroud of the Glenwood Springs Post Independent suggested that the album, especially the title track, took on new relevance in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks "era of Big Brother profiling".