DiFranco, Ani

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DiFranco, Ani

(1970-)
Righteous Babes Records

Overview

Ani DiFranco does things her way. To her credit, she has emerged as one of the more influential and inspirational punk/cult music heroines since the 1990s. Impressively, she achieved this without compromising her music to "buy into" Corporate rock, or perhaps more correctly put, without having Corporate rock buy her out. Staunchly independent and uncompromising, Grammy–nominated DiFranco has refused offers from other record companies to take over her music; she releases her records through her own independent label. And through her own independent way, DiFranco has transitioned herself from an underground solo artist to a prolific singer, songwriter, producer, and record company founder. She is the creator of Righteous Babe Records, which, by 2000, had sold more than 1 million copies of her recordings. In 2001, her new release, "Revelling/Reckoning," sold 37,000 copies in a single debut week. Starting with a grass–roots following, Righteous Babes Records finds itself in the position of having to reject or accept the work of other singers who clamor for release through its private label.

DiFranco's acoustic performances are perhaps best described as part pit–party, part hoedown, and part folk–hootenanny, punctuated with stage dives, broken guitar strings, and lyrics that cover controversial issues. DiFranco alternates between a smoldering warmth and an angry explosion of sound, and defies categorization by blending the forthrightness and anger of punk rock with the simplicity, beauty, and poetry of folk music. She uses press–on nails reinforced with electrical tape when performing to bang–strum on her acoustic guitar, and often offers only drummer Andy Stochansky as musical back up. DiFranco's fans reflect her widespread appeal. They are as diverse and hard to peg as her style, ranging from teenage to middle–aged, and from fans of alternative rock to folk music to punk rock.

Personal Life

Born September 23, 1970, in Buffalo, New York, DiFranco is the daughter of Dante (a research engineer) and Elizabeth (an architect) DiFranco. She began playing music at age nine when her parents bought her a Beatles songbook and an acoustic guitar. Within a few years she was singing "Yesterday" at local coffeehouses with the guidance of a local folk singer/guitar teacher. Rolling Stone's Evelyn McDonnell commented in her article, "She met a man named Mike, a 30–year–old 'degenerate folk–singer barfly' at a guitar store in Buffalo, NY. They began playing together and hanging out with other singer/songwriters, who would come up from New York to play." DiFranco's parents were absorbed in their own marital problems at the time, and DiFranco told McDonnell that they "were just happy from the beginning that I was self–sufficient. For me, it was the ideal childhood: complete emancipation."

Befriended by other "artsy" types, including Suzanne Vega and Michelle Shocked, DiFranco gave up music temporarily to study ballet, but that was short–lived. In high school, at the age of fifteen, the independent and spirited DiFranco found an apartment of her own in Buffalo and started writing her own songs to pursue her already mushrooming career. At the age of nineteen, she moved to New York City and began touring the country in a Volkswagen Beetle, performing at college campuses, coffeehouses, bars, and music festivals. She explained to Guitar Player's James Rotondi that her percussive acoustic technique "evolved out of twelve years of playing in bars, where people are there to pick up somebody and drink themselves into a stupor, not to listen to the chick in the corner with the acoustic."

Career Details

DiFranco began to develop an impressive following of loyal fans and supporters. Besieged by requests for tapes of her performances, she recorded a demo cassette and pressed 500 copies of it for distribution at future shows. The demo recording, an acoustic collection of personal essays about failed relationships and gender inequities, sold out quickly. In 1990, at the age of 20 and on borrowed money, DiFranco founded Righteous Babe Records. Started as a dining room table operation, the label was intended to fight back against the corporate policies of recording companies interested in her work. As DiFranco told Billboard's Jill Pesselnick, "When I was a teenager playing around Buffalo, already there were guys who would take me out to lunch and say they could make me a 'star.' There were record deal murmurings in the air. It was only after enough lunches with these guys that I really felt an instinctual aversion to marrying myself to business people." She decided she would not contribute to the perpetuation of that system, and buy into "that whole dynamic of commercial, homogenized art," as she stated in a Canadian Press article.

DiFranco, a truly independent independent, wanted to record her particular brand of folk/rock whenever and however she wanted, without worry of contractual obligations, censorship, or other modification of her work to properly market it. The reality, as DiFranco continued in Billboard, was that, "In the beginning, there was no company—it was my little joke with myself; it became a reality over the course of the next 10 years." She went on, "There's a lot of mistakes I've made along the way and things I would do differently now, but life is about learning."

Chronology: Ani DiFranco

1970: Born in Buffalo, New York.

1979: Began playing guitar in coffeehouses at age nine.

1985: Moved out on her own and sang in Buffalo coffeehouses and pubs.

1989: Relocated to New York.

1990: Formed Righteous Babe Records.

1995: Released "Not a Pretty Girl," considered her breakthrough album.

1996: Righteous Babe began releasing the works of other artists.

1998: Married her sound engineer, Andrew Gilchrest.

2000: Nominated for Grammy Award.

What those mistakes could be remains a mystery, because, for all intents and purposes, Righteous Babe has slowly but very steadily grown over the years. Early on, DiFranco kept her label floating by recording only one album per year for the first few years, and then followed up with constant touring and grass–roots marketing of each album. The approach worked well, as word–of–mouth advertising spread her name across the country. By the mid–1990s, Righteous Babe had its own office and had expanded its staff to include president Scot Fisher and a sales and marketing team. In 2001, the company had 15 employees, plus a 12–member road crew. Company headquarters was housed in the historic Sidway Building on the corner of Main and Goodell Streets in downtown Buffalo, a location deliberately chosen to express DiFranco's commitment to her hometown.

Described in MSN Music as "a folkie in punk's clothing," DiFranco toured the country alone, sporting not only her particular brand of music, but also a shaved head, tattoos, and body piercings. DiFranco created her audience through a gradual build–up of fans over the years. As she commented in Rolling Stone, "that's the nature of a career that's built on toting your butt around the country and playing music for people as opposed to commercial air play or national TV exposure." Political and moral themes, often personal in nature, dominated DiFranco's repertoire. One example is "The Million You Never Made" on the album, Not A Pretty Girl, in which DiFranco sang, "If you don't live what you sing about, your mirror is going to find out." By including controversial issues in her music, DiFranco hoped to diffuse them, discuss them, and deepen understanding of each topic's nuances.

With a broad emotional palette at her disposal, DiFranco's vocal range fluctuated between gritty and airy. Rolling Stone's Fred Goodman described her as "A wonder to behold: a spiky–haired volcano . . . [whose] songs, though mostly about independence and romance . . . often take unexpected, jarring turns—as when she recites a poem with disturbing images or controversial overtones." DiFranco told Out magazine's Ray Rogers, "I just sing my goofy songs about my goofy little life," underscoring the fact that she was her own person, without regard for those who might take offense at her uncensored output.

DiFranco's most ardent fans were a possessive group. While performing at a concert in New York City in 1996, MTV News cameras filmed the show while DiFranco's fans shouted, "MTV sucks!" at the camera people. DiFranco toned down the angry outbursts with humor, telling the audience that the camera people were from Mutual of Omaha, there to capture her in her natural environment. As DiFranco's popularity grew, she was faced with difficult decisions and growing pains. She was caught between fans who wanted her to remain accessible, and her untapped fans, reached only through more exposure. DiFranco stated in Rolling Stone,, "I believe in . . . not just making revolutionary music but making it in a way that challenges the system. . . . The possibility of emancipation and control and independence is so much greater now." Always a favorite on college campuses, DiFranco's music had moved into homes and businesses as well.

In 1996, Righteous Babe began releasing work from other artists. Its first project was a collaboration with DiFranco and folk singer–storyteller Utah Philips. It also put out albums from Brazilian singer–guitarist Arto Lindsay, singer–bassist SaraLee, and poet Sekou Sundiata. While none of the non–DiFranco releases ever sold more than a few thousand copies, the company had always emphasized music before business and product over profit. As DiFranco stated to Billboard interviewers, "I guess if there is anything a little inspirational in my story, it is in showing that there are truly viable alternatives to playing the industry game. And that you can make a living at this. I hope I also show that the indie route doesn't have to be a constricting or limiting way of doing things—if you have patience, and if you can come to terms with your life, and if you love your job, and if you are willing to spend 10 years doing what a record company could do in six months." The only constant for her company was not to compromise to fit some slot, be it radio or retail. To that end, in more recent years, Righteous Babe has added Drums & Tuba, an avante–garde improvisational jazz trio, to its roster. Righteous Babe sells its releases through alternative outlets and independent record stores, including Golden Rod Music, Horizon, Zango, and Lady Slipper.

DiFranco has remained true to her original beliefs about artistic independence. "I just don't think that you can say something meaningful within the corporate music structure," she was quoted in a 2000 issue of Billboard. "And I know that I don't want to be a part of that structure. I don't want to support it, and I want to do everything I can to actively challenge it on a daily basis." She went on to say that what it would take to move the pendulum out of the commercialism and business priority sphere is moving into independent spheres, as she has, and "realizing that those kind of dehumanizing corporate forces are not fulfilling to us as artists or to the public as fans."

In 2001, Righteous Babe launched its Web site, righteousbabe.com, and started a foray into book publishing, but the label remained true to its artistic objectives. DiFranco was the winner of Yahoo! Internet Life's 2001 Online Music Awards for her "Ani DiFranco at the House of Blues" (hob.com). She still devoted three weeks out of every month to touring, splitting each week between Buffalo, New York, where the label is based, and New York City, where she lives. In addition to "Revelling/Reckoning," DiFranco's other releases include "Ani DiFranco" (1990); "Not So Soft" (1991); "Imperfectly" (1992); "Out of Range" (1994); "Not a Pretty Girl" (1995); "Little Plastic Castle" (1998); and "Swing Set" (2000). DiFranco is quoted in the Canadian Press as saying that her heart still lies in performing live. "I've built my life around live performances," she said. "It's an end in itself."

In 1998, DiFranco married Andrew Gilchrest, her sound engineer. She changed her signature hair style from shaved–cropped to dreadlocks, and visibly beamed to interviewers while talking about her husband. But by 2001, that relationship appeared rocky, and the tone of her music appeared more somber, more vulnerable than usual, separated by mood and content into a two–disc release, "Revelling/Reckoning." As Terri Sutton once said about DiFranco in a Village Voice article, "DiFranco is still squeezing all her selves into a product."

But that product has continued to be pulled off from retail shelves at an increasing pace, to a wider audience with not–so–much–in–your–face views.

Social and Economic Impact

Like reality TV, reality music has gained a hold on a substantial cross section of the American public. At one time, in–your–face music held an audience limited almost exclusively to the younger set. But Ani DiFranco has been able to negotiate age and gender bridges with her coffeehouse folksy, bluesy style—though with a small following. Moreover, by maintaining her own label, she has been able to bring her honest voice and frank lyrics to the forefront of pop music without commercializing the sound, as did, for example, Eminem. Not to say that her music is any less in–your–face with its lyrics, or would not make jaded audiences wince now and then; it's just that it is simply and purely done her way, for the benefit of whoever wishes to listen.