Ani DiFranco - folk singer - Interview

Progressive, The, May, 2000 by Matthew Rothschild

So the possibilities of being independent are growing and growing. And, of course, people talk about the Internet a lot, though I really haven't exercised that option very fully.

Q: What's next for you?

DiFranco: There's an album of Woody Guthrie songs that we're releasing. There was a live recording of a performance done years ago, and it's myself, Billy Bragg, Bruce Springsteen, Arlo Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, the Indigo Girls, Dave Pirner. The concert happened as a benefit for the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York, run by Nora Guthrie [Woody's daughter]. And there was also a conference--lots of panels and workshops about Woody. So Nora agreed that Righteous Babe would put out a recording of the show, and then, as I'm wont to do, I took voices from the conference. People talking about Woody. Arlo's voice talking about his father. So the album is sort of an introduction to Woody Guthrie for younger people.

Q: Do you consider yourself a descendant of Woody Guthrie?

DiFranco: Absolutely. You know, I just come from that whole community that grew out of Woody and Pete [Seeger] and the People's Songs Movement.

Q: Tell me about your stage performances. You're much more than a recording artist, a studio artist. A lot of what you do is the dynamo of the stage performance. When I sit here talking to you, you seem like a different person than the person who metamorphoses on the stage. How do you do that?

DiFranco: I don't know how I came upon that. I'm twenty-nine, going on thirty, so you know, it's been about twenty years now of performing. I certainly wasn't always that way. And I think I just have so much passion for what I do and I love it so much and I get off so much on connecting with an audience and communicating ideas. For me, I'm not happy with a performance unless I can make that connection. And I think over the years not only have I taught myself what that takes and how to go there every night but my audience has also. I think they're extraordinary, too. They are capable of such a fervency, and such an excitement, and such a high energy. And I feel like they're really there for me when I have to express something, and they know how much respect and love I have for them. So it really allows for some very rewarding moments on stage, and I live for them. I completely live for them.

Q: Does it ever get asphyxiating?

DiFranco: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Don't get me complaining because I could go all day!

One basic ridiculous assumption that I've encountered is that success equals compromise. When I first started being recognized in mainstream media, there were a lot of people crying "Sellout!" just by the automatic assumption that I must be doing something different now, that I must have sold my soul in order to be appearing in that magazine. The assumption being that political dedication equals obscurity.

Q: The logic of that gets you in a desert pretty fast.

DiFranco: Yeah, is there no creative possibility for taking political dedication and love of music and art and also paying your rent and also reaching more people? That's my whole thing: I'm not willing to compromise any of that for success. So success, if it happens, happens twenty years later. And it's a long, slow process. It's really interesting for me to see how people from the outside perceive and project. There's that typical momentum towards familiarity that all people have. And if there's anything I do it's change and grow. I'm just a living being. Every year of my life I seem to learn that everything I know is wrong.