Ailing Ani
DiFranco to take a year off the road

Singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco will begin a yearlong hiatus from the road this month because of worsening tendonitis in her wrists and hands. A West Coast tour due to begin August 30 in Boise, Idaho, has been canceled to accommodate the artist's recovery. "If she were to continue to perform at this time, she would risk permanent nerve damage to her hands," DiFranco's spokesperson said in a statement. DiFranco will begin the hiatus after her July 31 gig in Floyd, Va.

While away from the live stage, DiFranco is planning "several new recording projects" with unspecified special guests, as well as a new solo album due sometime in 2006 via her own Righteous Babe label. She will also speak as part of the New Yorker Festival on September 24 in the Big Apple. The artist's most recent studio album, Knuckle Down , debuted in February at number 49 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 95,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (Jonathan Cohen, via Reuters)