In folk music, context is everything. The songs that once sparked revolutions are now quaint campfire jingles, and that's a big problem for DiFranco, who has spent over two decades hijacking different sonic trains without letting her lyrical focus hop a new line. Here, she gets stuck in too many clunky Big Idea statements about equality and social politics. As ¿Which Side Are You On? too often illustrates, yesterday's melodic angst is tomorrow's late-career lecture series. C
Best Tracks:Warm, twisting narrative Hearse
Humming rambler Life Boat
