The Old Town School of Folk Music is a community staple and has been for over 55 years and counting. It’s an educational center, a performance space, and an all-around Chicago music fixture. It is also the city’s center for all things folk. It’s what the Green Mill is to jazz. It’s what Lounge Ax was and the Metro is to rock. It’s what the Empty Bottle and Schubas are to indie. It’s a sacred, special place to see a concert and it was especially so last Wednesday when Ani DiFranco took the stage for an intimate show, the proceeds of which benefited the school.
Given the history of the Old Town School, and given the history of folk, it’s no surprise that there’s an unspoken demand for respect during a live performance. The audiences at the Old Town School always seem to know this. They’re not there for the scene; they’re not there to socialize and throw back beers; they’re there—very clearly and whole-heartedly—for the music. So in other words, it’s basically the perfect location to see Ani DiFranco, who is arguably the modern queen of folk music and whose small stature nonetheless commands attention. She is a force. Everyone in the room knew even before the show started that something noteworthy was about to go down. And it did.
It all started with Jenny Scheinman. How the hell have I not heard of her before? Where have I been? Aside from being an accomplished solo musician, she’s also collaborated with the likes of Lou Reed, Aretha Franklin, and Nels Cline, to name a few. And while her musical range spans multiple genres, last Wednesday Scheinman was pure folk. “It wouldn’t be a folk show if you didn’t bring out a weird instrument and play a murder ballad,” she joked at one point while strapping her bouzouki on. During her 45-minute set, the audience learned that she was a genuine storyteller (“Thank you for listening to that little novel”) and a masterful violinist. For her final songs, Scheinman borrowed a couple of members of DiFranco’s band to help fill out her sound and by the time she left stage the crowd was audibly impressed.
DiFranco (or “Ani,” as all of her avid fans refer to her) took that stage and waves of nostalgia began hitting me. Having listened to her music for over half of my life, and having traveled far and wide to see her as often as possible while in college, I’d be lying if I said that her music hasn’t helped to inform parts of me. She undeniably takes up a large chunk of the soundtrack of my life. Having seen her last in 2009 at The Vic, I was anxious to see who she was now—how’s she’s evolved as a songwriter, a performer, a person. And she summed it up best for me after playing one of her most lyrically jarring early songs, “Out of Habit.” Laughing to herself, she turned to the audience and said, “I wrote that when I was 19…some things have changed since then.” And they have.
For example, there’s no more shaved head. There’s no more post-shaved head dreadlocks. The nose ring is gone. But more importantly than changes in her physical appearance is the fact that there’s a contentedness, a peacefulness to her that I’ve never previously seen. Ani seems genuinely happy. She is just as funny and just as relevant as I remember—but with a new sort of softness. Perhaps it’s motherhood, perhaps it’s aging, finding love. Whatever it is, it’s working for her.
However, some things have not changed. For instance, her new songs are still lyrically powerful, her guitar playing is still dazzling, and the new arrangements for her older songs have revitalized them all while maintaining their original essence and potency. In short, she’s still killer live. Part of the credit for this is due to her outstanding band—bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Terence Higgins. Jenny Scheinman also returned to the stage for a good chunk of Ani’s set, adding her gorgeous violin to the songs.
But the main thing that has remained the same throughout Ani’s impressive 26-year career is her political vision. She’s been fearlessly independent and outspoken since she started her own record label, Righteous Babe Records, at the ripe age of 18. She continues to be an activist for various social causes and spent a few minutes discussing the frustrations of patriarchy (“All we know is patriarchy. We don’t know balance in nature.”) on Wednesday. Before playing “Tis of Thee,” she cited a book called The Alphabet Versus the Goddess by Leonard Shlain as serving as inspiration for the song. To her, the book offered “a way out of this patriarchy for all of us” by reframing the way we view the world from “no longer boy vs girl but right-brained vs left-brained.”
The first song of her encore—a cover of Florence Reese’s “Which Side Are You On?”—was another call to action. She encouraged everyone to sing along with her (“We gotta make Pete (Seeger) proud”) before ending the evening appropriately with “Joyful Girl.” And a joyful evening it was.
JENNY SCHEINMAN
