Ani DiFranco is a legend in her own right. After nearly 20 years in the music business, DiFranco has released 16 live albums and 18 studio albums, her latest being 2008's "Red Letter Year." DiFranco's prolific release of live albums may be due to her sentiment that live music is real music. Even the back of her most recent tour shirts were a throwback to the idea that records were named as such because that's exactly what they were — live recordings.
DiFranco's on-stage spontaneity and fervor spill over to her studio recordings, as her music is marked by rhythmic, staccatoed fingerpicking on her acoustic guitar and spoken word lyrics on political issues such as feminism, homophobia, women's rights and war. Although she accepts the label of "folk" for her music, she has noted in the book "Rock Troubadors" that folk is not a sound, it is a state of mind.
"Folk music is not an acoustic guitar — that's not where the heart is," DiFranco wrote. "I use the world 'folk' in reference to punk music and rap music. It's an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage."
It is plausible that few of today's artists are as aware of their heritage as DiFranco who, since the very beginning of her career, has been celebrated as a feminist icon. In 2006, she became one of the first musicians to win the National Organization for Women's "Woman of Courage Award" for backing several grassroots cultural and political associations through her own organization, the Righteous Babe Foundation.
Righteous Babe is also the name of DiFranco's independent record label, which she founded in 1989. Independence from a major label has allowed DiFranco to thoroughly explore her own artistic creativity and to control her own creative process. On her 2004 album "Educated Guess," DiFranco took hold of the musical reins and played all of the recorded instruments, sang all of the vocals and recorded the album in her own home on an analog 8-track reel-to-reel.
As if owning her own label weren't enough, DiFranco also often makes reference to her own independence, bashing corporate labels for their greed and their stifling of creativity. In "The Million You Never Made," a track off "Not a Pretty Girl," DiFranco defiantly growls, "And you can dangle your carrot/But I ain't gonna reach for it/'Cause I need both my hands/To play my guitar."
The outspoken DiFranco doesn't stop there. Never shy to voice her beliefs, DiFranco's songs are not just strikingly honest in their autobiographical character but also boldly political. Her song topics range from her own insecurities to women's reproductive rights to the devastation of war and the failures of a certain American president. In "Millenium Theater" she sings, "Trickle down Israel/Patriarchies realign/The ice caps melt/And New Orleans bides her time."
With over 20 years of material to work with, DiFranco can be quite intimidating to new concertgoers, but audiences at her shows consistently range from high school to middle-aged, each fan knowing that they are there for a collective experience rather than an elitist performance catering only to long-time fans.
Old-school fans and newcomers alike can catch DiFranco next month when she plays the 9:30 club on Tuesday, March 2.
You can reach this staff writer at kcasino@theeagleonline.com.
