9 Quick Questions for Ani DiFranco

Are you constantly listening to music?

Yes and no. Maybe not in the way that I once was, where I was just constantly immersed in music. Now I am immersed in silence a lot as well. In fact, my new favorite thing is [that] I’ve got these earbuds … with the noise canceling [feature]. I put them in sometimes with nothing playing and walk down the street in quiet, which is almost what I need now more than music.

When you do listen to music, what’s your go-to?

No go-to. I really am an omnivore when it comes to music. This week one day there was a gentle snow falling as I was walking to work, and I was listening to Erik Satie. Another day walking to work, I just really needed to get motivated and try to find my confidence, and I was listening to Leikeli47. She’s an awesome hip-hop artist that I love. Her energy, the subtle ways that she uses her voice — or maybe the right word for it is prosody — the way that she communicates so much emotionally and culturally through these subtle inflections of her voice is creative, unique. And again, just the energy, the sort of ferocity that she comes with — just all of it. It’s hard to define. It’s this sort of X-factor thing with her. I just really love all kinds of music.

AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal

Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.

Join Now

When you’re back home in New Orleans, what do you like to do in your free time?

Working in my garden, cooking, being a mom, being outside, going for a bike ride on a beautiful day, playing with the dogs, chasing them — just the simple things. Definitely gardening is something I already really miss in New York. It’s being surrounded by green and having dirt under my nails. It’s been hard over the years because I’m the absentee gardener. I’ll go away for weeks at a time to go on tours, and nobody in my family sees the plants. So I would come home to wanton death and destruction. Summer tours are a thing, so it was hard to maintain a vegetable garden. I had just gotten into this phase where I was sort of home more than ever … [and] was just investing in my garden more than ever, and now I’m [away for] seven months. I sent my many potted plants off to adoptive homes, to foster homes. I bid good luck to many of the plants that are in the ground.

Have you noticed physical changes in your 50s, and are you doing anything differently to stay healthy?

Well, the noticing part, yes. But the being disciplined, and taking the bull by the horns, and developing new habits to counteract those things, not so much. My husband [producer-engineer-musician Mike Napolitano] goes to the gym every day without me. I’ve always been lucky that I’ve been sort of fit and don’t gain weight as easily as some, and so I’ve been able to cheat the discipline. And my job — I used to be just always on the road — so that was my gym. A lot of exercise is embedded in my performances. That just made me not have to think about it for many decades. I tour significantly less than I used to prior to this Hadestown immersion. I was still kind of in denial. This Broadway [job] is kicking my a - - , and I’m hoping that once I get in this kind of shape, I’ll be more motivated to maintain that.

You’re working on a new album, and a documentary is being made about your life [1-800-ON-HER-OWN]. Any other projects in the works?

Another children’s book. This was something I did for the first time a few years ago [The Knowing] and the second one is coming out this August [Show Up and Vote]. So I’m excited about that.

So it sounds like you don’t have plans to retire anytime soon?

Retiring from the road to some degree. But, even while I’m [in New York] doing Hadestown, I’m signed up to be an artist in residence. I’m sort of teaching a songwriting class at a [local] high school. [It’s] wonderful. … I’m entering more of an era of diversification, you know, changing it up. I need the change and collaboration, I think, because the 30 years of being Ani in the world was very solitary — I don’t know if solitary is the right word — but it was all coming from me. Now I’m collaborating in a lot of different ways with a lot of different people, and that feels exciting.