Search - Ani Difranco :: Which Side Are You on

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Ani DiFranco's release, ¿Which Side Are You On?, features 11
new songs alongside a radically reworked rendition of the
classic title song, famously popularized by Pete Seeger nearly five decades ago, but no less relevant
today. Backing DiFranco on this collection is a remarkably diverse line-up
of stellar musicians, including members of her own touring band as well as guest players Ivan and Cyril
Neville (of New Orleans' first family of funk and R&B, The
Neville Brothers), avant-saxophonist Skerik (Pearl Jam,
R.E.M., Bonnie Raitt, The Meters), acclaimed singer/songwriter
Anaïs Mitchell, guitarist Adam Levy (Norah Jones,
Tracy Chapman, Amos Lee), and a host of New Orleans-based
horn players known for their work in such outfits as Galactic,
Bonerama, and The Rebirth Brass Band.

The newly recorded version of ¿Which Side Are You
On? is a funk-fueled epic, incorporating not just Ani's band,
but Pete Seeger himself on banjo and vocals alongside The
Rivertown Kids, a Hudson Valley-based children's chorus,
and The Roots of Music Marching Crusaders, a brass band
consisting of students from The Roots of Music, a music
education program for at-risk middle-school students in New
Orleans. DiFranco contributed her own straight-from-the
headlines verses to the song and has used it to close her own
live shows ever since. The album represents an extraordinary
snapshot of DiFranco's own life as well her sense of where the
country stands at this particular moment in time.