Ani DiFranco joined DJ Jules for a conversation about her recent transition from a six-month run in Hadestown on Broadway back to the open-ended freedom of touring her own music. She talks about the challenges of performing a scripted role every night, the joy of returning to improvisation on stage, and how these experiences inform her ongoing creative work, including her forthcoming record The Telepathy Tapes and the development of her own musical. Ani also reflects on the importance of metaphor in songwriting, the search for stillness and connection in a distracted world, and the balance of parenting with her life as an artist. She’ll bring her trademark honesty, wit, and spontaneity to Colorado when she performs on September 10th at Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder. (Interview: 8/19/25)
DJ Jules: Thanks so much for taking the time to sit with me here at KGNU. It’s DJ Jules, and I’m sitting with Ani DiFranco right now. This is lovely. So, Ani, you’re going to be coming to Colorado soon.
Ani DiFranco: So I hear.
DJ Jules: And you were just here as well.
Ani DiFranco: That is true. Yeah, I stopped by the old Red Rocks with the Avett Brothers. That was beautiful, of course.
DJ Jules: And then when you’re here in September, you’ll be playing at different venues in Boulder. You’re going to be at Chautauqua Auditorium, right? That’ll be a great show. I’ll be there on the 10th, and I’m so excited to see you in that space. It’s such a beautiful venue.
Ani DiFranco: Looking forward to it.
DJ Jules: So how does it feel to be back on the road? You just did this six-month stint at Hadestown, where you were a stationary artist performing eight shows a week. Then you transitioned back into touring globally. How was that shift for you?
Ani DiFranco: I was just really happy to be back in the saddle I’ve fashioned for myself over the last 30 years—playing my own shows. Broadway was an amazing experience, super challenging, grueling even. It made me miss being a musician, because it’s such a different type of performing. Like you said, you’re stationed at a theater, doing the same show every night.
Anyway, just the traveling and the freedom I have in doing my own shows—leaning into the moment, showing up in a time and place with a group of people and smelling my way through—what is tonight about? What’s the energy? Following it. The Broadway experience was really different. I had to learn how to get out of my improvisational, interactive head and more into “putting on a show” head.
DJ Jules: Did you see or feel any difference once you got back to your own stage—after performing a scripted show with a character, specific movements, and markings? Did that trickle into your performance as a musician or your stage persona?
Ani DiFranco: I don’t know that it influenced my persona, per se. I don’t mean to make Broadway sound “less than,” but it was sort of like having one arm tied down. I just felt a release getting back to the freedom of improvising and interacting—every moment changes when I’m out there doing my own thing.
The Hadestown show is something I believe in deeply, so putting in six months of service to it was really cool. But there’s a freedom that doesn’t exist on Broadway. Like you said, it’s very specific. You don’t play off the audience. The room might be full of corpses on a Wednesday afternoon, but you still have to party like it’s 1999 and hit your marks no matter what. It’s really locked in place. Beautiful in its own way, but very different. So the release back into the freedom of what I normally do felt really, really good.
DJ Jules: Yeah, it gives you that perspective of—if I want to wave my arms this way, or flow into this song because the crowd is vibing—I can lean into it. You get to be the conductor, the director.
Ani DiFranco: Totally. You can do a super-fast metal version one night, a slower open version another. You can stop mid-song and riff, tell a story, or go sideways. Anything goes. And I love being back in the “anything goes” realm.
DJ Jules: It’s that reminder of free will—“I’m in charge here.” Unlike Broadway, where you were playing a character and script. And with Hadestown, you were both a student and an expert—learning while also performing on Broadway. How was that?
Ani DiFranco: Pulling tickets while having no idea what you’re doing! [laughs] It was stressful. I’m not a confident person. I wish I had more confidence, but even after all these years on stage, I had no idea if I’d crash and burn on Broadway. Playing a role—the acting, dancing, heels, dress, wig, makeup—it felt like apples and oranges compared to my career so far. I was terrified.
But it was thrilling at this point in my life to be in the hot seat, really learning and growing. That was one of my most treasured aspects of that six-month adventure: getting better at that role right up until my last show.
DJ Jules: I love that. That joy of learning—being the constant learner—is what keeps us moving forward.
Ani DiFranco: And joy isn’t even the right word—it was a struggle. But when you survive and grow, there’s deep joy in that.
DJ Jules: Yeah, type-two fun. You have to work for it.
Ani DiFranco: Exactly.
DJ Jules: So did you get the theater bug? Are musicals and theater now part of your repertoire?
Ani DiFranco: A little bit in reverse. I said yes to Hadestown partly because I believed in it so deeply—and I have a long history with the show, going back to its early days. But also, I had already been tasked with making a musical of my own and had embarked on that process. So when the Hadestown call came, of course I said yes. I thought, “I’ll learn from this and apply it to my project.”
DJ Jules: I love that. And speaking of projects—you’re about to embark on the second leg of your tour, coast to coast, from Massachusetts to California. Are there certain venues or cities across the country that pull at your heartstrings?
Ani DiFranco: I have special places, but at this point it’s more about my life on the road. Some places evoke moments from past tours—nostalgia. But really, one of the glories of touring is that it’s new all the time. Every day is a new challenge, a new space. One night it’s a sweaty rock club with sticky floors, the next it’s an open field under the stars, the next it’s a velvet theater with pristine acoustics. That changing landscape excites me.
DJ Jules: And with those different spaces come different people. Do you stick to a set list, or do you adjust depending on the energy of the night?
Ani DiFranco: A little of both. I generally stick to a set list because of all my guitar tunings—it’s a complex science. But sometimes I’ll adjust mid-show, or have my guitar tech set up for a request. Designing a set list is a meditation for me. I try to put myself forward in time into the space we’re about to enter and divine what’s needed.
But sometimes life just changes it for you—a storm rolls in, and suddenly everyone needs a dance party to survive.
DJ Jules: That’s an analogy for life right there. Sometimes the storm rolls in, and we have to pivot.
Ani DiFranco: Exactly.
DJ Jules: You mentioned metaphor, and I love how you put it. Speak in metaphor, risk being understood.
Ani DiFranco: Yes! My songs are stuffed with metaphor because every time I write, it’s about the relationship between things. Nothing exists in isolation—it’s all relationship.
DJ Jules: And as listeners, we bring our own stories to it. For me, it was Little Plastic Castle. I first heard it in college, and now 18 years later, it holds all those versions of me.
Ani DiFranco: Right. Music situates us. It helps us find our place, our community, our purpose. And when you revisit old songs, it’s cellular—you feel who you were then, and who you are now.
DJ Jules: That’s so powerful. And your music also builds community, which feels more important than ever.
Ani DiFranco: Absolutely. It’s been more healing than ever to gather, to feel I’m not alone. Unless we’re all crazy—let’s be crazy together, in the most loving way. We need those moments of release and joy to counterbalance the dread and rage of the world.
DJ Jules: With that chaos in the world, how do you find calmness?
Ani DiFranco: Through work. I’ve got projects off the road: a soundtrack for a documentary I deeply believe in, and I’ve been recommending The Telepathy Tapes podcast at my shows. The first season is ten episodes—stick with it, it gets profound. I’m also doing the music for the upcoming documentary film.
So instead of doomscrolling, I throw myself into the work—projects that I think will be healing and helpful. That’s my calm.
DJ Jules: That’s beautiful. And with The Telepathy Tapes, you’re helping amplify voices that have been ignored—nonverbal autistic people, now spellers, communicating for the first time.
Ani DiFranco: Yes. Talk about going unseen. People presumed incompetent, considered “not there.” But now families are discovering the depth of their children’s lives. And beyond that, these spellers are bringing wisdom—about consciousness, about history, about connection. The last shall be first. Those once considered “subhuman” are becoming teachers and guides for us.
DJ Jules: It’s humbling. A reminder that we don’t know it all, and there are so many teachers if we’re open.
Ani DiFranco: Exactly. Consciousness exists in insects, trees, rocks, animals, water, nonverbal people, Alzheimer’s sufferers, people in comas. There’s vivid consciousness in places we overlook.
DJ Jules: And when we remove distractions, we can receive it.
Ani DiFranco: Yes. But the noise, light, and gadget distractions keep us from the quiet and space needed to tap in. We live in a tight realm of our own invention, but there’s so much more out there.
DJ Jules: I felt that recently when I took my son to Cirque du Soleil. No distractions, no phone, just present with him. And I thought—oh, this is life.
Ani DiFranco: Beautiful. That’s what it means to clear space for experience.
DJ Jules: I want to be mindful of your time. I could talk with you all day, but let me end with this: Colorado is thrilled to welcome you back. September 9 in Fort Collins, September 10 and 11 at Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder. There’ll be picnics outside, and then we’ll vibrate together as a community. Some tickets are still available—and I’ll be the one crying tears of joy before you even start.
Ani DiFranco: Perfect.
DJ Jules: Ani, thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure and an honor.
Ani DiFranco: Thank you, Jules. A pleasure.
