As of 2021, Ani DiFranco's husband is Michael Napolitano. There's the six, almost seven-year-old and the baby. And its way better. Ani DiFranco fudged the facts, just a little, when she titled her latest CD Red Letter Year. All of that other stuff is just shit that were being bamboozled into participating in. And what are a few of your favorite things about being on the road? In 2017, she released her nineteenth, Binary. Still, as with any DiFranco record, she tempers her optimism and visceral joy of being alive with her own brand of patriotism, urging Americans to take a step back from their inclination toward self-absorption and greed to consider the benefits of making a few sacrifices for the greater good. And so began the peculiar career of Ani DiFranco, then a teen from Buffalo, N.Y., who decided from the get-go that she would not offer up her soul as a co-op to big record companies, and therefore, never saw big success as a likely outcome. I love his sound. Lets see [flips through songwriting journal]. What is your go-to guitar if youre just hanging out and playing at home? Im intimate with all kinds of corners of the world, all over the place. [37] Ani DiFranco is an American singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. No. A lot of my playing style was developed on the WY1, and some of those old rockerstheres just something about the inherent compression of those guitars. Throughout the early and mid-1990s DiFranco toured solo and also as a duo with Canadian drummer Andy Stochansky. Many of her songs are concerned with contemporary social issues such as racism, sexism, sexual abuse, homophobia, reproductive rights, poverty, and war. In 2010, she co-produced a track with Margaret Cho called "Captain Cameltoe" for the comedian's Cho Dependant album. In an interview on September 13, 2012, DiFranco mentioned that she is pregnant with her second child with husband Mike Napolitano. Super deep massage and acupuncture are the things that have helped me the most. The organization provides free marching band instruction to children in the New Orleans area in addition to academic tutoring and mentoring. So [Lifeboat] is sort of about me, and its a little bit of an extrapolation of this person is me, you know?. Ive always played Alvarez guitars, and at some point, my husband, Mike, was like, why dont you try an old guitar? So Ive come to a place in my life where I just want to work with people who bring it, and I dont want to say a thing. DiFranco's rapid rise in popularity in the mid-1990s was fueled mostly by personal contact and word of mouth rather than mainstream media.[56]. She guest starred on a 1998 episode of the Fox sitcom King of the Hill, as the voice of Peggy's feminist guitar teacher, Emily. It is so as fun as it looks. If you had to take just one of your guitars on tour, which one would it be? I dont leave home for more than two weeks at a time. could pass for a love album to her husband and producer Mike Napolitano. In general they sold music to independent music stores and women's book stores. As of September 2012, she and her husband are expecting their second baby together. In 2014, she released her eighteenth album, Allergic to Water. She performed a cover of Pink Floyd's and Roger Waters' "Comfortably Numb" for Dar Williams' album. . As is her way as a lyricist, DiFranco manages to make a powerful statement with just a few well-chosen words, and, as metaphors go, there probably isnt any better way to describe the lifestyle of intense exposure and vulnerability that she has made for herself during the years. [43], In 2009, DiFranco received the Woody Guthrie Award for being a voice of positive social change. She has released more than 20 albums and is widely considered a feminist icon. But this guitar, the GibsMarteverybody that comes through this studio records on it now. And traveling these daysIm so struck anew by how kind people are. Ani DiFranco performs at Babeville Wednesday night. I guess that my go-to would be the guitar I call the Piss Gibson [laughs], because the case got pissed on by one of my cats. But then, of course, institutional religions are so problematic. And then, when I was eighteen and shaved my head, it was a rejection of [that] I dont want that power. Which to me, after almost 40 years, is a welcome challenge. But open tunings! Her lyrics, which are thick with metaphors and eclectic turns-of-phrase, run the gamut from deeply personal to overtly political. Beginning in 1999, Righteous Babe Records began releasing albums by other artists including Sara Lee, Sekou Sundiata, Arto Lindsay, Bitch and Animal, That One Guy, Utah Phillips, Hamell on Trial, Andrew Bird, Kurt Swinghammer, Buddy Wakefield, Anas Mitchell and Nona Hendryx. Her Righteous Babe Foundation supplies much-needed funding for the New Orleans-based Roots of Music after-school program, which provides free music classes, academic tutoring and a hot meal for around 120 underprivileged kids, five days per week. On September 11, 2001, DiFranco was in Manhattan and later penned the poem "Self Evident" about the experience. But I dont always succeed. Its the sound of all of my records. However, in 2015 she told the blog GoPride.com that she was ""not so queer anymore, but definitely a woman-centered woman and just a human rights-centered artist. The business grew organically starting in 1990 with the first cassette tape. This is an artist looking back at her own life in wide-eyed whirly wonder, intrigued by the un-likeliness of it all, and processing it all through the still-fresh lens of motherhood. Lift every veil that you havethe ones you know you have and then the ones you dont know you have. While most are her own, she has also collaborated with Utah Phillips on two albums. I would say, What are your favorite records? A line from the records centerpiece a stunningly perfect New Orleans folks song entitled simply J reflects progressives disappointment in the Obama administrations performance thus far ( Dude could be FDR right now/ but instead hes shifting his weight ). [Laughs.] Its a stupid idea. Lucky for me, Ive been in this game long enough and Ive met some amazing people. Ani cites her anti-corporate ethos for the main reason she decided to start her own label. She knows that male listeners have, at times, looked the other way not expecting a female artist whos been heralded by many as one of the most important feminist icons of the last few decades to produce music that might easily be processed by dudes, but she means for her work to be all-inclusive. But it made my arms stiff as fuck! Ani DiFranco hasn't written a song in the past year. Help Ani DiFranco", "Special Benefit Concert to Help Fund the Legal Campaign to Stop the Re-licensing of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant", "Dennis Kucinich, Ani DiFranco Urging Fans to Go Green", "Music and Her Message: DiFranco at Shea's", "Bearing Witness "New Orleans favorite Ani DiFranco endured 9/11 while in New York City and Hurricane Katrina while in New Orleans", "Lenny Kravitz Headlining Gulf Aid To Benefit Oil Spill Recovery", "Ani DiFranco's Fresh Perspective on New Orleans", "A2IM to Honor Nick Lowe With Independent Icon Award & Ani DiFranco to Receive Lifetime Achievement", "Ani DiFranco to be honored at John Lennon benefit show", "Ani DiFranco Announces New LP 'Revolutionary Love,' Drops Title Track", "Music Review: Plenty of clever twists from Peter Mulvey", "Old Man Trump: Tom Morello gives new life to Woody Guthrie's protest song", "Ani DiFranco guests on new Rising Appalachia song 'Speak Out' (listen)", "Ani DiFranco Announces New Album Revolutionary Love, Shares New Song: Listen", Ani DiFranco featured in award-winning documentary film, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ani_DiFranco&oldid=1141501304, Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards/ Best Rock/ Alternative Song, Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards/ OutMusic Award, Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards/ Female Artist of the Year, Planned Parenthood Maggie Award for Media Excellence, Gibson Guitar Award, Best Acoustic Artist Female, Southern Center for Human Rights, Human Rights Award, Winnipeg Folk Festival Artistic Achievement Award, Outstanding Achievement for Global Activism Award from A Global Friendship, 2016 Ryan Harvey Featured on "Old Man Trump", This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 10:49. Ani DiFranco: "What I really feel from my now almost 50 years on the planet is that, compared with when I was young, women are much more visible." . I think its a 1960s LG kind of thing. The political side of the new record strikes me as more patriotic than activist, but maybe patriotic is the best way to define modern activism anyway. They were dating for 4 years after getting together in 2005 and were married in Jan 2009. . Ive had the pleasure of playing with them more over the last few years, and so I roped the two of them into the core of this record, too. And I used to ice my arms because I was told by a doctor to do that. Exuding charisma, she is an animated, give-it-your-all performer. Her song "In The Way" was later featured on For the Lady, a benefit CD that donated all proceeds to the United States Campaign for Burma. Ani DiFranco is on tour in support of her most recent album, Red Letter Year. PG recently sat down with DiFranco on a sunny afternoon in New Orleans, where she lives with her husband, engineer/producer Mike Napolitano, and their two young children. She later released a CD on Righteous Babe of the concert Til We Outnumber Em featuring artists such as DiFranco, Billy Bragg, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Indigo Girls, Dave Pirner, Tim Robbins, and Bruce Springsteen with 100 percent of proceeds going to the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum educational department. Everybody that I talk to out therepeople of every make and modeltheir first instinct is the same as mine: to be kind. I didnt know the name of the notes. Did you use any new guitars or new gear on this record? This has allowed her a considerable degree of creative freedom[57] over the years, including, for example, providing all instrumentals and vocals and recording the album herself at her home on an analog 8-track reel to reel, and handling much of the artwork and packaging design for her 2004 album Educated Guess. [47] The followup, Fellow Workers, was recorded live in Daniel Lanois's Kingsway Studio in New Orleans and features Phillips fronting DiFranco's touring band for a collection of songs and stories. Appearances at Canadian folk festivals and increasingly larger venues in the U.S. reflected her increasing popularity on the North American folk and roots scene. While the realization of an imbalance in society that favors patriarchy has been a long running theme in DiFrancos work, she is quick to point out that this should not be construed as anti-male but rather as a flatout call for balance in accordance with the laws of nature. Its a much more holistic feeling to me to be not just singing to my tribe.. In 1999, she created her own not-for-profit organization; as the Buffalo News has reported, "Through the Righteous Babe Foundation, DiFranco has backed various grassroots cultural and political organizations, supporting causes ranging from abortion rights to gay visibility."[60]. And when I stopped listening to the vocal that I was singing, and started really hearing the band, thats when I knew that I was back in that moment. From our atoms, to the positive and the negative, to the male and the female, to the dark and the light, to the life and the deatheverything is a relationship of two things. It started as a poem. In 2011, she appeared on Rob Wasserman's album Note of Hope, an exploration of the writings of Woody Guthrie with musical accompaniment, though the track in which she appeared, "Voice", was actually recorded 13 years earlier. For live shows, I use an Audix OM5. And thats the natural law. It is described as a "coming-of-age story". Do you have a favorite song on Binary? PG recently sat down with DiFranco on a sunny afternoon in New Orleans, where she lives with her husband, engineer/producer Mike Napolitano, and their two young children. The C on the topthats been my new jam for a while now. DiFranco makes a good point about how people perceive her work from a sexual identity standpoint by turning the question on its head: I think to be female in a world thats largely imagined by men, from day one, you get very used to translating. [69][70] In 2008, she again backed Kucinich in his bid for the presidency. After a moment, she continues: Im a very emotional person, biochemically. James O'Hara; Created . [30], In 1990, she wrote "Lost Woman Song", which was inspired by her abortions at ages eighteen and twenty. On September 11, 2007, she released the first retrospective of her career, a two-disc compilation entitled Canon and simultaneously a retrospective collection of poetry book Verses. In 2008, she donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 Tsunami. [78], Musical collaborations, cover versions, and samples. Tuning and re-tuning in front of an audience can add a whole extra level of stress. She keeps her soul in fighting shape by surrounding herself with fellow activists. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. However, DiFranco is quick to point out the difficulties that the President faced when trying to go forward on issues that the general public seem to have lost interest in. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Cartomancer J Family (1) Spouse So then I just started playing in my natural way, which is just making shapes and then remembering those shapes. Because the band is playing off of me, live. Sister of Private. Ive explored every plausible open tuning and thenthis is my new open tuning: D#ADGBD#. I didnt want to pick up girls or be famous or whatever the usual motivations are. So what does Sabres GM Kevyn Adams do this week? DiFranco has stated that "folk music is not an acoustic guitar that's not where the heart of it is. And one of those is going directly onto tape and the other one is Y-ing again to two different amplifiers. To be a black president to be a female president anyone knows that you have to work overtime to not alienate, to not scare people, she says. Delaware North scores with billboard with Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka, well, you know Buffalo singer Matt Wilson featured in 'American Idol' on Sunday, Buffalo singer Matt Wilson moves on to Round 1 of 'American Idol', Erik Brady: Most see Johannes Vermeer's genius on gallery walls. 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