Knuckle Down

Knuckle Down is the 14th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco. It is the first album where DiFranco has collaborated with a producer; Joe Henry. The record is also her first studio album to feature a string section. It is considered among her most accessible records, and compared to the stark Educated Guess, it is more abundantly produced.

Reception
The album so far has a score of 73 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "generally favorable reviews". Billboard gave the album a favorable review and stated: "The results are a selection of high quality that veers between brightly spirited ("Manhole," "Lag Time") and somber ("Callous")." The New York Times gave it a positive review and said that DiFranco "is still self-sufficient, but an extra pair of producer's ears gives her some new dimensions."

Other reviews are very average or mixed: Mojo gave the album three stars out of five and said it was "More honed and richly-textured than former offerings." Q, however, gave it two stars out of five and called it "Deliberately sparse and bare."

Track listing

 * 1) "Knuckle Down" – 4:34
 * 2) "Studying Stones" – 3:53
 * 3) "Manhole" – 3:45
 * 4) "Sunday Morning" – 4:49
 * 5) "Modulation" – 4:31
 * 6) "Seeing Eye Dog" – 4:02
 * 7) "Lag Time" – 5:13
 * 8) "Parameters" – 5:58
 * 9) "Callous" – 5:46
 * 10) "Paradigm" – 4:33
 * 11) "Minerva" – 4:55
 * 12) "Recoil" – 5:08

Personnel

 * Ani DiFranco – guitar, vocals
 * Patrick Warren – piano, sampling, Chamberlin
 * Todd Sickafoose – string bass; Wurlitzer (track 3)
 * Jay Bellerose – percussion, drums
 * Andrew Bird – violin, Glockenspiel, whistling (2, 3, 7, 9, 12)
 * Tony Scherr – electric guitar (4, 8, 10, 12)
 * Noe Venable – vocals (2, 3, 10)
 * Niki Haris – vocals (10)
 * Julie Wolf – melodica (11)
 * String section on tracks 2 and 7

Production

 * Ani DiFranco and Joe Henry – record producer
 * S. "Husky" Hoskulds – engineer, mixing
 * Jason Mott – assistant engineer
 * Greg Calbi – mastering
 * Ani DiFranco and Brian Grunert – design
 * Danny Clinch – portrait photography
 * Eric Frick – photography