Ani DiFranco (CD - 1990)

Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, guitar).

Recording information: Audio Magic Buffalo, NY (1989).

Photographer: Scot Fisher.

The self-titled 1990 debut by Ani DiFranco created a buzz in folk music circles unlike anything seen since Suzanne Vega's debut of five years earlier. That the album was self-produced and self-released on DiFranco's own Righteous Babe label, and that DiFranco was not yet 20 at the time, only added to the clamor.

With her shaved head and tattoos, DiFranco looked tough and self-assured. But the beauty and emotional depth of this album come from the way assertive, almost angry songs like "Out of Habit" are counterbalanced with tender, less guarded songs like the apprehensively romantic "Both Hands." DiFranco's searing social commentary is particularly corrosive in the emotional "Lost Woman Song." Recorded with one acoustic guitar and occasional percussion, the album sounds intimate but never skeletal. This second CD pressing contains one extra track, the stark "Letting the Telephone Ring." minimize