''Red Letter Year'' is the 16th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released on September 30, 2008. Says DiFranco about the album: “When I listen to my new record, I hear a very relaxed me, which I think has been absent in a lot of my recorded canon. Now I feel like I’m in a really good place. My partner Mike Napolitano co-produced this record – my guitar and voice have never sounded better, and that’s because of him. I’ve got this great band and crew. And my baby, she teaches me how to just be in my skin, to do less and be more.”

Track listing

Personnel

* Ani DiFranco – vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, tenor guitar, 12 string guitar, guitar synth, ukuleles,

optigan The Optigan (a portmanteau of Optical Organ) is an electronic keyboard instrument designed for the consumer market. The name stems from the instrument's reliance on pre-recorded optical soundtracks to reproduce sound. Later versions (built under ...

, Wurlitzer, synthesizers, percussion *

Todd Sickafoose Todd Sickafoose is an American jazz and rock musician, composer, and producer/engineer from San Francisco, California. He is best known for playing acoustic bass and keyboards with Ani DiFranco but has also led his own group, Todd Sickafoose's T ...

– Fender bass, bowed basses, piano, Wurlitzer, pump organ, synthesizer * Mike Dillon – marimba, vibraphone, percussion, tubular bells *

Allison Miller Allison Miller is an American actress. She is best known for playing Michelle Benjamin on the NBC series ''Kings'', Skye Tate on the Fox series '' Terra Nova'', and Carrie on the NBC series ''Go On''. She starred as Laura Larson on the Syfy tele ...

– drums, percussion *String quartet on tracks 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 (arranged by Todd Sickafoose) **

Jenny Scheinman Jenny Scheinman is a jazz violinist. She has produced several critically acclaimed solo albums, including ''12 Songs'', named one of the Top Ten Albums of 2005 by ''The New York Times''. She has played with Linda Perry, Norah Jones, Nels Cli ...

– violin **Megan Gould – violin **Jessica Troy – viola **Marika Hughes – cello *

C. C. Adcock C. C. Adcock (born Charles Clinton Adcock, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and blues rock musician, noted for his cajun, zydeco, electric blues and swamp pop-influenced sound and for his efforts to preserve and promote swamp ...

– electric guitar on tracks 3, 4 *

Richard Comeaux Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...

– pedal steel guitar on tracks 3, 5, 10 *

Animal Prufrock Bitch and Animal, a duo consisting of musicians Bitch and Animal Prufrock, were a queercore band that performed from 1995 to 2004. They became established while touring as an opening act for Ani DiFranco, and later launched their own highly succe ...

– piano on track 4, percussion on track 6 *

Jeff Klein Jeffrey Lawrence Klein is an American singer-songwriter of the band My Jerusalem from Newburgh, New York, who plays keyboards and guitar. He has released three solo albums and another three albums with My Jerusalem. Jeff Klein has risen to acc ...

– vocals on track 6 * Rene Lopez – percussion on track 6 *

Jon Hassell Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937 – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various w ...

– trumpet on track 11 *The

Rebirth Brass Band The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1983 by Phillip "Tuba Phil" Frazier, his brother Keith Frazier, Kermit Ruffins,Skelly, RichardAllMusic Profile Retrieved 2013-02-9 and classmates from Joseph S. Clar ...

on tracks 1 and 12 **Phil Frazier – tuba (band leader) **Derrick Shezbie – trumpet **Glen Andrews – trumpet **Stafford Agee – trombone **Corey Henry – trombone **Vincent Broussard – saxophone **Byron (Flee) Bernard – saxophone **

Derrick Tabb Derrick Tabb (born May 27, 1975) is an American musician, a long-standing member of the Rebirth Brass Band and a co-founder of The Roots of Music, a non-profit organization that sponsors an after-school academic and music program for children i ...

– snare drum **Shorty Frazier – bass drum

Production

*Produced by Mike Napolitano and Ani DiFranco *Recorded and mixed by Mike Napolitano at The Dugout, New Orleans, Louisiana and at Dockside, Maurice, Louisiana *Additional engineers at Dockside – David Rashou, Corie Richie *Rebirth Brass Band recorded by Jack Miele at Fudge, New Orleans, Louisiana *Jon Hassell recorded by Jesse Voccia *Rene Lopez recorded by Ken Rich *Strings recorded by Tony Maimone at Studio G, Brooklyn, New York *Additional recording by Ani DiFranco and Todd Sickafoose

Charts

Album

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2008 albums Ani DiFranco albums Righteous Babe Records albums