National folk act

Ani DiFranco

Going up

Another year, another 12 months in Ani DiFranco's continuing march toward world domination. Everybody loves Ani -- girls, boys, lesbians, straights, folkies, punks, even PBS, which earlier this year tapped her to narrate River of Song, its documentary about the many musics made along the mighty Mississippi. DiFranco herself is a river of song, having released an astonishing 12 discs in nine years, all on her own Righteous Babe label. Fame finally caught up with the righteous babe in 1998, as she released Little Plastic Castle (at the time, her best-selling record yet) and addressed on it her ambivalence toward both her acceptance by a mainstream not sure what to make of her and the overprotective fans jealous that their private thrush was leaving the nest. Not that DiFranco sold out or turned her back on either the fans or the kind of songs she had always created: an austere, starkly personal, often witty, always beautifully sung acoustic music played with hardcore intensity. But she also dipped her toes into hip-hop (on Castle's lengthy jam, "Pulse") and funk (on 1999's similar jam, "Hat Shaped Hat"). The first weeks of this year saw the release of her highest-profile album yet, Up Up Up Up Up Up, which is clearly the direction in which DiFranco's career is moving.

-- Gary Susman

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AniDiFranco.org -- The White Girl With the Hair
An Ani DiFranco fan page
Another Ani DiFranco fan page

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