INDIANAPOLIS - "I've got myself a new mantra," Ani DiFranco shares on her new studio album. "It says, 'Don't forget to have a good time.'"This attitude has clearly influenced the dozen tunes on "Red Letter Year", which celebrate existence, profess love and tackle thorny political issues with an infectious sense of glee. It's one of DiFranco's most joyous records to date.
And it has been a long time coming. "Red Letter Year" was sculpted over the course of two years, a period in which Ani continued to hone her songwriting, performing and recording skills, all the while balancing her new role as a mom.
"I think I sorely needed to be slowed down, and finally a little person came along powerful enough to do it," DiFranco reflects. The end result is an album of focused, layered, panoramic music.
"When I listen to my new record, I hear a very relaxed me, which I think has been absent in a lot of my recorded canon," DiFranco explains. "Now I feel like I'm in a really good place. My partner Mike Napolitano co-produced this record - my guitar and voice have never sounded better, and that's because of him. I've got this great band and crew. And my baby, she teaches me how to just be in my skin, to do less and be more."
DiFranco will perform at The Murat Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, April 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Reserved tickets for DiFranco's show at The Murat Centre are $35 and $27.50 plus applicable fees and go on sale Friday at 9 a.m.
Tickets are exclusively available at www.livenation.com, the Murat Centre Box Office, or charge at 877-598-8703.
