Last week I shared a 2021 interview I conducted with Ani DiFranco for AARP. The column I wrote that piece for no longer exists, which is a huge shame—it was a great one. Every artist that was interviewed for the column came to the interview with a playlist of songs they put together on a topic of their choosing. Ani’s playlist was “My Friends on the Folk Circuit,” a collection of songs by those she befriended over the years.
Because the piece was taken down long ago, my editor kindly gave me permission to republish it, so I’m sharing the playlist with you now along with Ani’s stories about each of the artists included in the list.
I love this list because she speaks of the many artists who have influenced and inspired her as a writer, a musician, and a person.
I hope you’ll give it a read and then listen to the tracks. Enjoy!

SANDRA EBEJER: What is the theme around this collection of songs?
ANI DIFRANCO: The theme is “my friends on the folk circuit.” The theme is “the kindest, sweetest people that I met through entering the folk underground.” You know, like Si Kahn and Pete Seeger, these folk elders that were instantly welcoming and embracing of me.
We’ll talk through each person, and you can share why you chose their song. First up is Si Kahn, “Aragon Mill.”
Si, every time I’m in his neck of the woods, will come out to my show and say, “I’ve got this project, Ani, and that project and here’s this revolutionary from Argentina, and you could da-da-da-da, let’s do some shit!” That’s him, still. And that was Pete for me. And that was Utah [Phillips] for me. Just like, “Okay, so this is happening. And that is happening. And I need you here on this day. And blady blah blah. Let’s do this.”
Pete Seeger’s “Which Side Are You On?” You guys have a history with that song.
Yeah. Of all the Pete tracks I pulled that one out because, of course, many decades later, he re-recorded that song with me when I put out a version, so that song and he and I have this special connection. I remember when I showed up at the Clearwater Sloop club with a couple of microphones and a little laptop and we were going to record his banjo on the song and he said, “I could play the intro like I did on the 1958 version.” I was like, “Fuck, yeah!” And that’s what he did. So listening to the banjo intro on this, it has a very special place in my heart, as does he.
Dar Williams, “When I Was a Boy”
Dar! I just saw her on the Mountain Stage radio show. It’s always so great to cross paths with Dar. She talked about me that night and what it meant for us to be breaking on to the folk scene together at the same time as young women, and how I was an inspiration for her feminist awareness in her song, and she was an inspiration for me in many ways, like with her songwriting. This song, “When I Was A Boy,” I remember the first time I heard it. We were on a workshop stage together at one of these Canadian folk festivals. And it’s just such a badass song. She is a top-notch songwriter. This is the type of Dar Williams song that just slays me and inspires me to work harder as a songwriter.
Greg Brown, “The Poet Game”
Greg Brown, another kindred spirit, another pen pal of mine at various times over the years. We have different approaches to our music and our songs and performances, but there’s something that I think we both feel in deep connection with each other. I had just released my album Imperfectly, so this is going way back to early Ani, which was way not for everybody, especially on this folk scene—a lot of sideways looks and lip curling in my direction.
I’ll just paint you a little moment: I remember the first time I showed up to the Cedar Cultural Center, one of these out-of-the-way folk spots that you only know if you’re part of the community. It’s an old church in Cedar Rapids, and you perform and then you stay in the basement in this room where they put up the folk singers. And it’s 1992 or something, and I played, and Greg had played a few nights earlier. I remember walking into the folk singers’ quarters, and he had left a note for me saying, “Your music sounds so good to my ears.” An older singer-songwriter male who was not like, “Ugh. What are you, a man hater?” But was like, “I get it. I dig you.” The song “The Poet Game” is just classic Greg. I find a lot of inspiration in his songs.
Pieta Brown, “Bring Me”
Pieta, who is Greg’s daughter. When I became friends with Greg, I met her around that time. She seemed to me to be six years old. Now that we are both older, I realize I’m only five or six years older than her, but at the time, that’s a big gap. She was Greg’s daughter, and I was Greg’s friend, so she seemed like a kid to me. But I remember the first time I met her. Again, just a little picture to paint: I think it was at the E-town radio show. I remember one of the hosts of the show saying, “And this is Greg’s beautiful daughter, Pieta, and her friend [so-and-so].” And Pieta turned to the person speaking and said, “Beautiful friend.” She was a very young woman at the time with the presence of mind to deconstruct in the moment that hierarchy of women.
Anyway, Greg and I have not been pen pals for a while; Pieta and I are now. We write to each other often and I just love her to death. It’s funny how these things work. The other night, I was listening to a few new songs that she’s produced that are coming out on Righteous Babe. It had taken me a long while. It’s been weeks and weeks since she finished them. But just the other night, I finally found the time to listen to them, and she texted me instantly, “I’m thinking of you very strongly right now.” So that’s me and Pieta these days.
Peter Mulvey, “D.I.A.”
Peter, closer to my age, not necessarily the older generation of folk singers, but an important person, songwriter, artist in the folk world. A top-notch performer, writer, being, endlessly giving, endlessly generous, kind, thoughtful, beautiful man. And a true inspiration to me with his writing. It’s always such a pleasure to share the stage with him. He brings so much with him when he shows up. This is a song I recorded [from] an album I produced. We made it at my house, and he used my band, and my husband was the engineer, and I was the producer. So, this song comes from an album that we worked on together.
Tom Paxton, “The Last Thing on My Mind”
Tom, another elder who embraced me instantly and always on the folk scene, always kind and welcoming. He’s another one of the guys that when we cross paths at folk festivals, it’s like seeing family. It’s like seeing my uncle.
John Gorka, “Semper Fi”
John Gorka, a beautiful songwriter I met because he was a Fleming artist. All these people I met early on because we were all part of the same stable of artists. I haven’t seen John in many, many years, but we used to intersect a lot. And again, an incredibly kind, gentle spirit. I was more familiar with his earlier records when we were hanging out a lot in those days. There are moments in his songs that just stick in my consciousness. “Semper Fi” is an example. There’s an image in this song of Eleanor Roosevelt giving his father a blanket when he was a wounded soldier in an army hospital, and “some forget the kindnesses that others never will.” There’s something about that line and the image of Eleanor Roosevelt, who is a hero to me, and this blanket that John probably now possesses that was his father’s, that was given to him by Eleanor. There’s something about that that feels very poignant and resides deep in me. John and his songs are just another part of my songwriter DNA.
Bruce Cockburn, “When You Give It Away”
He’s a Canadian singer-songwriter who became a dear friend along the way of intersecting out there in the folk world. We had just met and became friends. He was reaching out to me through official channels, the gracious way of asking me if I would sing on his new record that he was making down in New Orleans. This is long before I lived here or anything. I was on warp speed, so I remember not having the bandwidth to jump on Bruce’s record that he invited me to sing back-up on. And I regretfully didn’t show up for him...or so I thought.
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