Ani DiFranco - Canon Review

She's released 18 albums in almost as many years, she's recorded with artists as diverse as Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Maceo Parker, and was recently named alongside U2 and Nirvana as one of the most influential artists of the last 25 years. Yet you've probably never heard the name Ani DiFranco before, have you?...full text Ani DiFranco is probably one of the most beloved artists to never have a number one song or a platinum selling CD. Considering she's seen as a musical revolutionary, ground-breaking instrumentalist and the closest thing to "our generation's Dylan" as possible, it's notable that none of the songs on her greatest hits CD Canon ever went gold....full text Armed with a nose ring and jazzy phrasing, Ani DiFranco assaulted the image of the dainty female troubadour. She was, an early song warned, “Not a Pretty Girl.” Neither was the music: The Buffalo, New York–bred anti-folkie traded sweet harmonies and gentle strumming for scat-influenced vocals, percussively fingerpicked guitar and arrangements that remained stark even as she added drums and minimalist accents (like the canny horn riff in “Marrow”)....full text