All free-internet-radio Ani is good free-radio-Ani: Acoustic Cafe, 2004 (real audio). Includes an insightful interview, and some songs (“Knuckle Down” @ 22:00 is new, as is the excellent “Recoil” around 30:00). In keeping with the recent trend, her solo performance of the tunes makes those on the disc pale in comparison. Also, the interview is insightful, especially this question (which i had wondered myself, as “Educated Guess” was a favorite of mine last time i saw Ms. DiFranco with the band):
Rob Reinhart: Did these songs come out of the process itself, or did they predate it?
Ani: Only “Educated Guess,” the song … predated the record. That one got bumped off the Evolve record actually and, uh, i used to play with my dear friend Julie Wolf. So, it’s the oldest tune, and the rest were constructed in solitude, you know, back to my roots, you know, where they’re built to stand alone on the guitar again.
Ha, her next album is being produced by Joe Henry, famous to me for being related-by-law to Madonna and having his “Stop” nearly covered outright by her “Don’t Tell Me.” I wonder if Ani realizes she’s being produced by someone who is collecting royalties on a Madonna song; should be interesting. And, hey, if you like free internet tuneage, you need to make Largehearted Boy the first stop on your daily web crawl; he scours the internet for almost a dozen one off songs and full concerts every day. Absolutely indispensible.