Ani DiFranco ramps up summer outing

Ani DiFranco [ tickets ] has filled in her summer tour itinerary with 20 shows across the US and a couple in Canada.The singer/songwriter, who completed a spring run in April, will be back on the road starting June 18 in Aspen, CO. She and her band--bassist Todd Sickafoose, drummer Allison Miller and percussionist Mike Dillon--are scheduled to visit a mix of clubs, theaters, sheds and festivals through late July. Dates are listed below.Special guests on the trek include The Moldy Peaches co-founder Kimya Dawson, New York City-based singer/songwriter Regina Spektor and Welsh singer/songwriter Martyn Joseph. Details about which acts will appear at each show are available at DiFranco's website.While the self-described "Little Folksinger" was taking a break from the road last year to focus on motherhood, she put together her first career retrospective, "Canon." The 36-song collection, which surfaced in September on DiFranco's own Righteous Babe indie label, delves into material from her 1990 debut to 2006's "Reprieve," and includes five re-recorded tracks of old favorites, including "Both Hands." She followed that set in April with the "Live at Babeville" DVD, which captures DiFranco's inaugural sold-out shows in her own Buffalo, NY, venue. Babeville, a former church slated for demolition, has been reinvented as a state-of-the-art music hall. The DVD features highlights from the Sept. 11-12 concerts, including two previously unreleased songs.One of those tracks, "Present/Infant," was inspired by DiFranco's 15-month-old daughter and is expected to appear on her forthcoming studio album, "Red Letter Year," which is due this fall.