The Diary of Ani DiFranco (Ani at Lincoln Center)

by Colin Carlson, March 2000

Ani DiFranco is a bit of an anachronism in the music industry.  While most
bands must become enormously successful before they have complete control over
their work, DiFranco has been handling all aspects of her career from the
beginning, producing her own albums (which includes controlling all the
artwork, packaging, distribution and publicity) and helping reinvent the
folk-rock hero.

     Ani DiFranco got her start performing Beatles songs for live audiences at
the age of nine.  After emancipating herself from her divorced parents at age
15, DiFranco moved into her own apartment and began writing and performing her
own songs at various coffeehouses and the like throughout her native Buffalo,
NY.  After graduating from Buffalo's Visual and Performing Arts High School,
she spent time playing live in New York's East Village, soaking in the
flourishing folk scene and readying her compositions for a debut album.  When
the time came to record that album, DiFranco scraped up the money to form her
own label, Righteous Babe Records, and the rest was history.

     Since the release of her self-titled debut album, Ani DiFranco has gained
a reputation as a punk-folk maverick who does things on her own terms and isn't
afraid to speak her mind.  Her work is uniformly articulate and challenging;
Ani's lyrics critique pop culture, face the dangers and freedoms of self-
examination, study the roles of religion and politics in American society, and
consider such complex issues as abortion and feminism.  Her vocal range is
arguably untouchable among today's ranks of folk artists--it moves effortlessly
from quiet introversion to raucous extroversion--and her clout has drawn
legends like Prince and Maceo Parker into her ranks (in the studio and on
stage, respectively).

     Ani DiFranco has also inspired a fervent cult following which includes
both males and females, members of the gay and heterosexual communities, and
fans of all ages.  Her music transcends the traditional mores of both punk and
folk, allowing her to speak to the bootleg-swapping teenage girls that idolize
her and the older aficionados who admire her technique and songwriting ability.

     Running her own label has allowed Ani DiFranco to produce CDs at a rate
most record companies would frown upon.  _To the Teeth_ and _Up Up Up Up Up Up_
were both released in 1999 (as well as _Fellow Workers_, a collaboration with
Utah Phillips), to go alongside a total of 12 full albums in the nineties, a
rate of production (and ability to maintain high quality) that would leave
anyone this side of Prince slackjawed.  Without the pressures of producing hit
videos and singles and milking albums for all their commercial worth, the
greatest beneficiaries of her prolific nature are her dedicated fans.

     In the past year, and for the first time in its brief history, Righteous
Babe Records released albums by a couple of other artists: Arto Lindsay's
critically-acclaimed, Brazilian-flavored _Prize_ and Sekou Sundiata's release
_Longstoryshort_.  The label's dedication to releasing albums by artists that
might otherwise fall by the wayside because they don't easily fit into
categories like "techno" and "rap" is admirable.  With plans for even more
releases in the coming months, Righteous Babe is on its way to establishing
itself as a safe haven for artists who want to keep their artistic vision and
integrity intact.  Hopefully, this philosophy will become more trend than
anomaly.

     Ani DiFranco will perform with Greg Brown and Gillian Welch at Lincoln
Center's Avery Fisher Hall (65th St. & Columbus Ave., 875-5030) on March 20th
at 8 p.m.  Tickets are available at the box office or by visiting
lincolncenter.org.

END