Ani DiFranco

Call it sadistic if you must, but music fans often respond best to songs that emerge from the darkest or most turbulent times in an artist’s life. Though indisputably a powerful and positive social force, Ani DiFranco’s best material has always been that which belongs to the realm of the darkly personal rather than political. She has never shied from confessionals, nor from thwarting expectations, but the unfortunate truth is that her last albums -- Educated Guess and Evolve -- merited respect but just weren’t very much fun to listen to. They relied too heavily on a discordant slam-poetess vibe, broken jazz that propped up some of the most forgettable -- and forced -- poetry of her career.

Knuckle Down is a return to both collaboration and confession, and the result is Ani’s most rewarding album in a number of years. DiFranco has brought other musicians and even a rare co-producer, Joe Henry, into the fold. And her songwriting has returned to many of her strengths, allowing for songs that are full of lyrical nuance and free of distracting accoutrements. Death and divorce weigh heavily on the album, creating a spectrum that ranges from brutal detachment (“Callous”) to fragile loneliness (“Recoil”). Even the requisite spoken-word piece (the chilling “Parameters”) lingers longer than usual. There are still a few times when she casts harmony aside and returns to the overly fractured style that typified her two previous releases. Nonetheless, Knuckle Down -- fueled by tumult and again aided by friends -- marks another high point along a long road. - Adam McKibbin

Fans that were lukewarm to Ani DiFranco 's bare-bones, self-produced Educated Guess will be pleased to learn that the notoriously independent artist has delegated half of her 13th studio recording's production duties to fellow singer/songwriter Joe Henry. Knuckle Down combines all of the spite, spark, compassion and wordy observation of the DiFranco of old with the kind of constructive hindsight that can only come from years spent blazing your own trail -- the knotty title cut ends with DiFranco musing "I think I'm done gunnin to get closer to some imagined bliss/I gotta knuckle down/just be ok with this" then wistfully replies "'course that star struck girl is already someone I miss." It's a brave opening statement, and one that permeates Knuckle Down throughout. Henry, along with guest musicians Todd Sickafoose, Julie Wolf and fellow Righteous Babe recording artist Andrew Bird never intrude on DiFranco's signature percussive guitar work and Joni Mitchell motor-mouth, rather they paint lovingly the complex world around them, reigning in the artist's penchant for long-winded intros and meandering mid-sections with a subtlety that does wonders for standout tracks like "Sunday Morning" and "Studying Stones" -- the latter features some of Bird's divine whistling. Knuckle Down may not have the machine-gun edge and maverick intensity that fueled her early-'90s heydays, but it spares nobody -- including DiFranco herself -- from interrogation, and with its creative arrangements, smart pacing and refined production, it ranks as the artist's most concise and accessible release to date. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide