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.^[1]

Knuckle Down
Studio album by Ani DiFranco
Released	January 25, 2005
Genre	Indie rock folk rock
Length	57:07
Label	Righteous Babe
Producer	Ani DiFranco Joe Henry
Ani DiFranco chronology
Educated Guess (2004) Knuckle Down (2005) Reprieve (2006)

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(73/100)[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Blender	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B[3]
Filter	84%[2]
musicOMH	(positive)[4]
Paste	[5]
PopMatters	(6/10)[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]
Slant	[8]
Uncut	[9]

The album so far has a score of 73 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "generally favorable reviews".^[2] 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")."^[10] 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."^[11]

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."^[9] Q, however, gave it two stars out of five and called it "Deliberately sparse and bare."^[2]

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

Charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts)[12]	82
US Billboard 200	49