Ani DiFranco gets help on new album

DETROIT, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- One of music's most stalwart independent artists, Ani DiFranco, has changed her tune a bit on her new album, "Knuckle Down."

It marks the first time in 15 years of recording the singer/songwriter from Buffalo, N.Y., has allowed another artist to co-produce one of her albums. DiFranco enlisted the help of Joe Henry, who, in addition to his own work has also produced Solomon Burke, Teddy Thompson, Kristen Hersh, Shivaree -- and is, by the way, Madonna's brother-in-law.

"We were hanging out and sort of struck up an ongoing dialogue about making records, among other things," recalled DiFranco, who had Henry open some shows for her in 2004. "We just found we had a lot of creative connections. He's a very lively spirit, and so I am. We just hit it off really well, and I invited him to co-produce my next record. He said 'Sure,' so we started scheduling and scheming."

"Knuckle Down" is the follow-up to 2004's "Educated Guess," which DiFranco recorded entirely on her own.