Revered singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco has been busy lately. The feminist icon and Grammy Award winner – also an author, actor, activist, and record label founder – brings her latest tour to The VETS on Friday, May 8. Tickets are available here.
In addition to her music career, DiFranco’s been quite active in recent years – championing emerging artists, acting on Broadway, and writing her latest book, The Spirit of Ani: Reflections on Spirituality, Feminism, Music, and Freedom, released in March. The protest singer made her mark early in her career as an artist who refused to compromise, a practice that continues 35 years later.
That ethos was heavily influenced by the music and message of Pete Seeger, who mentored her when she was starting out. “I always felt so enriched by his presence,” says DiFranco, “like I was in school when I was around him, and not just as a folk singer, but as a person. I can picture Pete, pushing 90, getting in a station wagon and driving to play a benefit, that sort of endless, tireless dedication – that really solid grounding that he had in his purpose. It's something I aspire to.”
Artist as Trailblazer
DiFranco is perhaps best known for founding Righteous Babe Records in 1989 at just 19 years old, a move widely viewed at the time as risky, if not outright reckless. Decades later, that decision stands as one of the defining acts of artistic independence in modern music, inspiring generations of musicians to carve their own paths outside the traditional industry system. “It comes down to how you structure your dream, your vision for yourself,” she continues. “For me as an artist, a songwriter, a maker of music… you're supposed to make a demo and shop to labels and get the record deal, and then you get played? At the time, video on MTV, the cardboard cutout at Tower Records or whatever the path was supposed to be; I was like, screw all that.”
So she blazed her own trail – recording, producing, and distributing her music by herself. “At the time, conquering things like distribution, getting your record into a record store so that people could potentially buy it without a record company, was quite a hurdle,” she adds. “These are all antiquated structures and concepts now, but it took patience and yeah, just a real strong ‘screw that’ attitude against the status quo.”
In recent years, DiFranco expanded her creative output. "In my personal journey, it's sort of the age of diversification and collaboration,” she explains. “I've been stretching and challenging myself beyond the bounds of a folk singer, like with this new book.” She took to the Broadway stage in 2024, starring as Persephone in Hadestown. “That was too terrifying a proposition to refuse because terror is good for growth, and one of the reasons that I said yes to that offer, besides Hadestown being epic and the most amazing show, was because I was already working on a musical theater piece myself.”
“So that was very exciting for me, and that's sort of where my writing and creative juice have been flowing. Hamilton was like such a watershed. I think since then, if we expand beyond the sort of historically typical genre of musical theater, and we let other people in the door, like, whoa, what could happen here?”
Providence Show
DiFranco is bringing her full band to the “Spirit of Love” show in Providence – “I have Todd Sikafoose, my musical brother of 25 years on bass, and Jharis Yokley, a young drummer I've been working with for a couple of years, and Eric Haywood playing pedal steel and electric guitar. We're a four-piece now, which is just so great with just enough sound to really be able to make multi-dimensional scenes happen around in the songs, but also enough space to leave room for some spirit.”
DiFranco’s activism is legendary, and a key part of her identity as an artist. Yet, her central message, in a world of political turmoil, is one of optimism. "It's such a complex problem and enemy,” she says, referencing the Trump administration. “It's hard to say anything without feeling like you're ignoring other things, how do we even just survive emotionally and energetically while just being bombarded by doom and sadness and unnecessary suffering and repression -- a mortal threat to our democracy.”
“10 years ago, in the lead-up to the 2016 election, I couldn't understand how anyone, even thoughtful, educated, or kind-hearted people, were following that guy around with microphones and cameras, amplifying everything he did and said, eating it up, and spreading his message, even progressive news sources.”
“In the 21st century, our attention is the most valuable commodity in the world, the most coveted, and the most powerful,” continues DiFranco. “What we pay attention to, we make, we manifest. So if there's one thing at the forefront of my mind over the last 10 years, it's like, be careful where you let your attention rest, day in and day out. Amplify every opportunity, this incredible work, and really try to do my part in giving all of my energy to the alternative. The way to defeat the bad guy is to lift up the good guy.”
Tickets are still available for the show on Friday, May 8, at The Vets. Learn more at TheVetsRI.com.
Ani DiFranco - Which Side Are You On?
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