An absolutely Ani performance at Wolf Trap

By Kyle Ridley/For the News & Messenger
Published: July 3, 2008

Folk-rock pioneer Ani DiFranco hits the stage after taking a break last year to welcome her first child, daughter Petah Lucia.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter returns to Wolf Trap Monday to showcase tunes from her forthcoming album, "Red Letter Year," due in September.

"My baby daddy and partner in crime, Mike Napolitano, co-produced this new record, which is a big difference for me and made a huge impact on the sound of the record," said Di-Franco, 37.

The Buffalo, N.Y. native made a conscious effort to tap into new emotions, specifically joy, while creating the new CD.

"I sort of went on a mission personally to try and write some happy songs," she said. "I suffered from the white person disease of complaining too much in my music."

DiFranco explained that she typically reached for her guitar to aid in times of despair and that joyful tunes were a rarity in her catalog because "when you're happy, you're busy being happy."

DiFranco, who has written hundreds of songs, said generating an album's-worth of new material is a sporadic process.

"I find that there are periods when I don't sleep too much and I'm writing a lot and thinking about ideas," she said. "They go through spurts and then lulls. I try to just keep my feet wet… try not to leave writing for too long."

"Red..." is DiFranco's 20th official album and was shaped in many ways by the love for her daughter, boyfriend and New Orleans home.

"It's kind of like the home of some of the happiest feel good music on the planet," said DiFranco. "When you hear it you just have to shake your booty."

For the fans hoping to hear some classic DiFranco ditties, have no fear. DiFranco said she enjoys shuffling her sets with old and new songs and makes an effort to revisit songs from her early days, no matter how cringe-worthy.

"I gotta hope that cringing is part of the process. It indicates growth," she said. "I spend a lot of time with my set lists. They sort of mutate every night and morph over time."

Over nearly 20 years, 20 albums, 10 official bootlegs, 3 DVDs and a book of poetry, DiFranco managed to sell more than 4 million records under her independent label, Righteous Babe Re-cords.

She has been praised for her "one-woman army" approach to the music industry, and criticized by those expecting her be outspoken.

"I try to keep my distance from what people are saying," she said. "I already have a lot of me in my days."

DiFranco said over time she's broken from the labeling of political spokeswoman.

"I feel like we've all gotten a little older and chilled out," she said. "Everything is balanced."

Kyle Ridley can be reached at .