Singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco begins her latest tour in Santa Fe on Friday, June 17. She is celebrating the 25th anniversary of her live album, “Living in Clip” and her 2021 album, “Revolutionary Love.” (Courtesy of Daymon Gardner)
Ani DiFranco marches to the beat of her own drum.
It’s part of her DNA.
The musician and record label owner continues to challenge herself – decades after her career started.
DiFranco is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his first live album, “Living in Clip.” It was an album that opened the doors to mainstream music.
The tour is kicking off in Santa Fe on Friday, June 17.
“I feel like this pandemic has been pretty radical as far as change,” DiFranco says. “Santa Fe is our first show back on my little horse. I have no idea what it’s like to be on tour. It feels very new again.”
DiFranco is looking forward to creating moments with each audience.
“It’s sad that phones come in between so many moments of our days,” she says. “My audience more than most have left phones out of it. We have all the time in the world for our phones. We need to make every moment count.”
DiFranco founded Righteous Babe Records when she was 19. She’s released more than two dozen albums since then.
Her most recent is 2021’s “Revolutionary Love.” Though she’s changed as a woman and mother over time, she’s still about blazing her own path.
“I’ve learned a lot along the way on how to do my bit,” she says. “I just feel like I’ve had a lot of hard lessons won under my belt now. In terms of the people I’m working with and the way I work with them, it’s hard to articulate in detail. The label is stronger than it’s ever been. The team is super solid and the vibe is high. The roster of artists is really strong and there’s a community vibe that is ideal. In some moments I just want to be the artist. Then there are other moments when I have to be the record label boss.”
In the last few years, DiFranco finds herself digitizing her own master recordings.
“It’s become like a ‘this is your life,’ ” she says. “I’ve been listening to sessions for 25 years ago. Me and my band, or me solo, there are all these moments. It’s really freaky and finding these lost moments on the tapes is incredible.”
Being able to look back on herself from 25 years ago has given DiFranco some insight.
“All my life lessons are out there for everyone to behold,” she says. “There’s a pattern that I’ve noticed when I was recording with a big band, I was into recording live. I was doing live takes and it would often take the band 10 to 15 takes to get right. I was singing the best on the first three takes, yet I would use the take where the band sounded the best. What I think now as dubious choices, there must have been some design in the universe. Maybe that’s why my process has changed.”
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