Red Letter Year [Slipcase] (CD - 2008)

Personnel: Ani DiFranco (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, tenor guitar, ukulele, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer, guitar synthesizer, percussion); Jeff D. Klein, Jeff Klein (vocals); Animal Prufrock (electric guitar, percussion); C.C. Adcock (electric guitar); Richard Comeaux (pedal steel guitar); Megan Gould, Jenny Scheinman (violin); Jessica Troy (viola); Marika Hughes (cello); Jon Hassell (trumpet); Todd Sickafoose (piano, pump organ, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer, bass instrument, electric bass); Mike Dillon (vibraphone, marimba, tubular bells, percussion); Allison Miller (drums, percussion); Rene Lopez (percussion).

Additional personnel: Rebirth Brass Band.

Audio Mixer: Mike Napolitano.

Recording information: Dockside, Maurice, LA; Fudge, New Orleans, LA; Studio.G, Brooklyn, NY; The Dugout, New Orleans, LA.

Arranger: Todd Sickafoose.

RED LETTER YEAR finds former folkie fire-starter Ani DiFranco still maintaining her confrontational sociopolitical edge, but leavening it with a warmth that comes from the scenario surrounding the album's creation. It was the first album DiFranco made since the birth of her daughter, Petah, and the first to feature a full-on production collaboration with the child's father, Mike Napolitano. That fulsome family vibe lends a spiritual strength to the proceedings.

Like its predecessor, REPRIEVE, RED LETTER YEAR addresses the issue of the U.S. government's post-Katrina New Orleans negligence, though not as exclusively as on the earlier album. Crescent City resident DiFranco made the album in the Big Easy, and is joined by New Orleans musicians like C.C. Adcock and the Rebirth Brass Band, but there are plenty of other topics beyond her immediate surroundings for her to explore, from man's warlike nature to, unsurprisingly, motherhood. She tackles these topics to the tune of a rich, atmospheric production that maintains a nice, swampy balance between supple, funky grooves and acoustic ambience. minimize