Home Read Classic Album Review: Ani DiFranco | Knuckle Down

Classic Album Review: Ani DiFranco | Knuckle Down

This came out in 2005 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


After reaffirming her independence and getting back to basics with last year’s one-woman-show Educated Guess, singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco returns to the land of collaboration on her superior 17th release Knuckle Down.

Artfully but sparsely produced by Joe Henry, this dozen-cut set has everything fans have come to know, love and expect from Ani — the percussively spiky acoustic guitars, the wordy beat-poet lyrics, the mix of personal and political themes — backed by just enough jazzy accompaniment to nudge these songs out of the bedroom and into the club. From the Tom Waitsian noir of Seeing Eye Dog to the haunted paranoia of Parameters, it’s solid, impressive work — not that Ani seems concerned with impressing anyone anymore. “I’m done gunnin’ to get closer to some imagined bliss,” she decides on the title cut. “I gotta knuckle down, just be OK with this.” Thankfully, it isn’t hard to feel much better than OK about Knuckle Down.