"People have asked me for years, 'Would you ever consider working with a producer, or are you a total control freak?'" prolific singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco says. "I have longed for somebody to bounce ideas off." She finally found the right partner in fellow troubadour Joe Henry.

DiFranco, who has made four studio records since 2000, will begin recording her next album in Los Angeles this spring with Henry co-producing. The two hooked up to play several dates together and discovered that they shared a similar sensibility.

"We got to know each other and basically spent the whole time on the road together just talking about making records, because we both do a lot of that," she says, laughing. "And we found that our ideas and our approach to making records really resonated. I'm excited that I finally intersected with somebody I can imagine having that kind of creative exchange with in making a recording."

For DiFranco, who recently returned to her solo roots with January's Educated Guess, the upcoming album will find her again exploring playing with other musicians, this time as a trio. "I've actually found a Bay Area bass player to play with me when I get back stateside, so I'm going to be doing the duo thing for a while," she says. "When we go into the studio in May there's a drummer that's going to come with me too, so we're going to track as a trio. So, yeah, other musicians once again."

Henry has been making his own records for nearly a decade, but his production touch has recently become an in-demand commodity, sparked by his work on soul legend Solomon Burke's Grammy-winning 2002 release, Don't Give Up on Me. His latest production, Jim White's Dig a Hole in That Substrate and Tell Me What You See, is due in May.

STEVE BALTIN
(March 26, 2004)