Ani Di Franco...

Hurray! The little folk singer is back touring the UK this year after a lengthy lay-off because of medical reasons and because she's also recently become a mum to daughter Petah.

But thankfully she's now back gigging in Europe and and as well as doing a big gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire she's also doing a much more intimate show to kick off her European Tour at the Bush Hall.

So me and the Missus are off to both. The Missus is not massively keen as she always gets dragged along to see Ani and we've experienced both brilliant and mediocre gigs, but I'm uncommonly excited about this as Di Franco is one of the few artists I've really stuck with through her ever-evolving style and ever-widening political gaze.

She's also released a new album called Canon which is out in October. Part retrospective and part greatest hits, it also has re-imaginings of five of her favourite songs. One of these, Both Hands, is featured on her MySpace page.

Happy listening!