Ani and a small part of her army were downtown Friday night.
The true hipsters among us know that Ani is Ani DiFranco, the fearless singer-songwriter who introduced the world to something called punk-folk when she was nothing more than a brash and bright Buffalo New York teenager with an acoustic guitar and a wise-beyond-her-years business plan that has allowed her to sell her music without selling her soul.
Like the folk music pioneers who preceded her, DiFranco writes about peace, love and understanding. And though there are some tender moments on most any Ani album or set list, she doesn’t mind confrontation and she doesn’t mind mixing in the occasional F-bomb with her insights on living and loving in America.
Not surprisingly, the fiercely independent DiFranco has built up fiercely independent fan base. And they no doubt still love their girl with a fanatic’s passion. But like their hero, who’s still the mother of her own Righteous Babe Record label and also the mother of an 18-month old daughter, Fridays’s less-than-capacity National crowd didn’t seem quite as militant as they did back in the day—before the Grammy’s started rolling in, when the concept of a chick from New York marketing her own FCC-offending music was downright revolutionary
Sporting a hair length that doesn’t threaten her shoulders, the fit and trim 37-year-old DiFranco could pass for college kid home for the summer. She’s also sporting a new two-man, one-woman band, which fits her quite nicely.
Originally a no-frills, one-woman, one-guitar act, DiFranco dabbled in some horns, some noise and some funk once her career gained momentum. On this tour, she’s back to acoustic guitar only backed by upright bass and a rich mix of percussion, a development I would characterize as positive.
The first half of tonight’s 90-minute set was dedicated primarily to tunes from the recent years. And sure, there’s more soul and guts in tunes like “Modulation,” “Lag Time” and “Unrequited” than most of the music cluttering the airwaves these days. But those were just warm-ups for the good stuff.
The good stuff being gritty tunes of strength, vulnerability and non-conformity like “As Is,” “32 Flavors,” “Names and Dates and Times” and “Fire Door.”
She also tried out a couple almost mellow tunes obviously authored from the perspective of a parent with choruses of, “Look how much the world loves you” and “Love is all over the place.”
But as if to assure the Ani nation that she hasn’t gotten all mushy on us, she immediately followed up with her fabulous I love you/ I hate you message of “Gravel.”
In the interest of journalistic integrity, one disclaimer is necessary. I’m not exactly an impartial Ani judge. Twelve years ago, my daughter needed to raise cash to enter our town’s Soap Box Derby. In addition to friends, family, and neighbors, Cara sent a money-begging letter to Ani’s Righteous Babe Records office. The result: a check from Ani larger than those donated by Grandma, Grandpa, Mom or Dad.
Ani’s invited a few of her most talented pals to join her on the “Ani and Friends Tour.” The revolving list of tour bus passengers includes Melissa Ferrick, Natalie Zukerman, the Wailin’ Jennys and Richmond’s opening act, Kimya Dawson.
If you loved “Juno” (and if you didn’t, you weren’t paying attention, go back and watch it again), then you must have loved Dawson’s work, which is a significant part of the movie’s soundtrack and was also a part of her 30 minute warm-up set.
Not exactly a slave to lush melodies, Dawson’s bare bones, sound-alike tunes have what would charitably be described as “sing-songy” quality.
But the reward that Dawson delivers is the wonderfully weird way that she puts words together in her brief musical observations about love, giants and farts, as well as her complete disdain for our country’s president.
Dawson’s not bad at crowd control either, as evidenced by her quick response to an “I love you” shout out from the floor.
“I love you, too. .. But I have to whisper so your mom won’t hear me.”
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