Ani DiFranco rides new album to Center for the Arts performance

Widely considered a feminist icon, Ani DiFranco's prolific music career spans more than 20 self-released albums under her label Righteous Babe Records, which she launched at the young age of 19. Since she bucked the major label system in the early 1990s, the self-described Little Folksinger has been the subject of all kinds of hyperbole. She's been called "fiercely independent" (Rolling Stone), "inspirational" (All Music Guide) and "the ultimate do-it-yourself songwriter" (The New York Times). The Center for the Arts welcomes back the folk rock singer-songwriter to The Marisa Funk Theater on Tuesday, June 28, with support by Abraham Alexander. Although DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, she has reached across genres since her earliest albums incorporating punk, funk, hip-hop and jazz influences. DiFranco supports many social and political movements by performing benefit concerts, appearing on benefit albums and speaking at rallies, also backing grassroots cultural and political organizations supporting causes, including abortion rights and LGBTQ+ visibility. DiFranco has written hundreds of songs, played thousands of shows, captured the imaginations of legions of followers and jammed with folkies, orchestras, rappers, rock-and-roll Hall-of-Famers, jazz musicians, poets, pop superstars, storytellers and a martial arts legend. DiFranco has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Prince, Utah Phillips, Bruce Cockburn, Rob Wasserman, Maceo Parker and Rising Appalachia and shared stages with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Bragg, Michael Franti and many more. Di Franco's transcendent new album, "Revolutionary Love," marks the latest proof of one of her most powerful gifts as an artist: a rare ability to give voice to our deepest frustrations and tensions on a personal and political level. "My songs have always reflected an acute connection between my personal life and the life of my society," the trailblazing musician and activist says. "As I started to come out of years of dealing with marriage problems, I saw my entire country in the same situation; the complete breakdown of communication and loss of empathy and connection. But after what seems like unforgivable damage, then where do you go? You can't kick each other off the planet, you can't change the past, so what then?" Produced by Di Franco and recorded mainly in two whirlwind days at Overdub Lane in Durham, North Carolina, "Revolutionary Love" more than justifies the mad dash behind its making. As her first studio effort since the release of "No Walls and the Recurring Dream" (Di Franco's widely praised 2019 memoir), "Revolutionary Love" arrives as an instantly transportive selection of songs. Rooted in her poetic lyricism and ever-commanding vocal work, the album unfolds in an understated yet captivating alchemy of folk and soul and lushly textured jazz-pop. ANI DiFRANCO When: Tuesday, June 28. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Show at 7:30. Where: The Center for the Arts' Marisa Funk Theater, 314 West Main Street, Grass Valley Tickets: $45-60, thecenterforthearts.org Information: https://thecenterforthearts.org/event/ani-di-franco/ or 530-274-8384