Ani DiFranco biography

Early in her career, DiFranco considered herself an atheist. On the subject of religion, DiFranco has stated: "Well, I'm not a religious person myself. I'm an atheist. I think religion serves a lot of different purposes in people's lives, and I can recognize the value of that, you know, the value of ceremony, the value of community, or even just having a forum to get together and talk about ideas, about morals - that's a cool concept. But then, of course, institutional religions are so problematic."

Since becoming a mother and releasing her Red Letter Year album in 2009, DiFranco has talked in concert about "finding religion". At concerts she has stated that her song "The Atom" is an "alternative Christian proposal". In "The Atom" she sings "Oh holy is the atom/ The truly intelligent design/ To which all of evolution/ Is graciously aligned." In Reno in 2008 prior to singing "The Atom", she said "I've kind of gotten religion lately, I took a sweet religion, one I am sort of familiar with and sprayed a can of patriarchy-off and this is what I came up with."

Label independence

DiFranco was one of the first independent artists to own her own label, which has allowed her a considerable degree of creative freedom 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. She has referenced this independence from major labels in song more than once, including "The Million You Never Made" (Not A Pretty Girl), which discusses the act of turning down a lucrative contract, "The Next Big Thing" (Not So Soft), which describes an imagined meeting with a label head-hunter who evaluates the singer based on her looks, and "Napoleon" (Dilate), which sympathizes sarcastically with an unnamed friend who did sign with a label.

DiFranco has occasionally joined with Prince in discussing publicly the problems associated with major record companies. Righteous Babe Records employs a number of people in her hometown of Buffalo. In a 1997 open letter to Ms. magazine she expressed displeasure that what she considers a way to ensure her own artistic freedom was seen by others solely in terms of its financial success.

1990 - Ani DiFranco
1991 - Not So Soft
1992 - Imperfectly
1993 - Puddle Dive
1994 - Out of Range
1995 - Not a Pretty Girl
1996 - Dilate
1998 - Little Plastic Castle
1999 - Up Up Up Up Up Up
1999 - To the Teeth
2001 - Revelling/Reckoning
2003 - Evolve
2004 - Educated Guess
2005 - Knuckle Down
2006 - Reprieve
2008 - Red Letter Year
2012 - Â¿Which Side Are You On?

Compilations

1993 - Like I Said: Songs 1990-91
2007 - Canon

Live albums

1994 - An Acoustic Evening With
1994 - Women in (E)motion (German Import)
1997 - Living in Clip
2002 - So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter
2004 - Atlanta - 10.9.03 (Official Bootleg series)
2004 - Sacramento - 10.25.03 (Official Bootleg series)
2004 - Portland - 4.7.04 (Official Bootleg series)
2005 - Boston - 11.16.03 (Official Bootleg series)
2005 - Chicago - 1.17.04 (Official Bootleg series)
2005 - Madison - 1.25.04 (Official Bootleg series)
2005 - Rome - 11.15.04 (Official Bootleg series)
2006 - Carnegie Hall - 4.6.02 (Official Bootleg series - available in stores)
2007 - Boston - 11.10.06 (Official Bootleg series)
2008 - Hamburg - 10.18.07 (Official Bootleg series)
2009 - Saratoga, CA - 9.18.06 (Official Bootleg series)
2009 - Chicago - 9.22.07 (Official Bootleg series)
2010 - Live at Bull Moose Music (Limited edition)

EPs

1996 - More Joy, Less Shame
1999 - Little Plastic Remixes (limited distribution)
2000 - Swing Set

Demos

1989 - Demo tape (unreleased)

Videos

2002 - Render: Spanning Time with Ani DiFranco
2004 - Trust
2008 - Live at Babeville

Poetry

2004 - "Self-evident: poesie e disegni"
2007 - Verses

Other contributions

2004 - WFUV: City Folk Live VII - "Bliss Like This"
2006 - Jason Karaban - "Doomed to Make Choices"
2008 - The City That Care Forgot - Contributed backing vocals to the title track of Dr. John's 2008 album.
2009 - Jason Karaban - "Sobriety Kills"
2010 - Anais Mitchell - "Hadestown"
2011 - Twilight Singers - "Blackbird and the Fox"
2011 - Every Mother Counts - "Present/Infant" (Remix)

References

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