Folk music has a bad connotation these days. The word folksinger conjures up images of an overly earnest person clutching an acoustic guitar, bathed in patchouli, singing long dead songs of the ’60s. To say you’re a folksinger in these days of sampler keyboards and “two turntables and a microphone” is almost like saying you’d prefer to write with a chisel and stone tablets. But don’t tell that to Ani DiFranco. The Buffalo, NY based singer-songwriter declares herself to be a Folksinger, capital f. And she’s bringing the folk to Mershon Auditorium tonight at 7:30.Actually, to just call DiFranco a folksinger is almost missing the point. Her music fuses funk, hip-hop, folk and punk rock energy into a seamless blend. With the increased participation of her touring band, Daren Hahn (drums), Jason Mercer (bass) and Julie Wolf (keyboards), DiFranco’s sound is expanding, encompassing other textures. DiFranco also runs her own label, Righteous Babe Records, which has put out all 13 (!) of her records since 1990. And number 14 is the recently released EP “Swing Set.””Swing Set” is a six-song EP which contains a radio edit and the album version of “Swing” from DiFranco’s 1999 album “To The Teeth.” There’s also a radical reworking of “To The Teeth” remixed by DiFranco. But the heart of the EP is a trio of songs originally recorded by other famous folksingers: “Do Re Mi” by Woody Guthrie, “When I’m Gone” by Phil Ochs and “Hurricane” by Bob Dylan.Newcomers, don’t fear, “Swing Set” isn’t only for the hardcore fan. “Swing” is a collaboration with legendary saxophone player and former James Brown band member Maceo Parker blowing his horn all over the place. His son Corey also adds an adapt rap coda asking “Who said folk and hip-hop can’t latch?/Put us on the stage and light a match.” Get it? It’s an explosive combination.The “To The Teeth” remix is a moody almost trip-hop revision which matches DiFranco’s somber response to the school shootings. “Do Re Mi,” a live recording which features Gillian Welsh, David Rawlings and Bo Ramsey and “When I’m Gone,” a solo acoustic track, are closer to the folk tradition are far as instrumentation. Simple and direct, the lyrics and the performances speak simple truths without being preachy or overbearing. And the final track, “Hurricane,” which tells the story of the wrongful imprisonment of Rubin Carter (also immortalized in the 1999 film “The Hurricane”), is recast as a Curtis Mayfield, circa “Superfly,” song, with the energy and anger radiating from the speakers in tangible waves.Overall, “Swing Set” is outstanding. Something old, something new, and it shows DiFranco in various musical lights. You could do worse for an introduction. Pick up “Swing Set” or any of DiFranco’s 13 other records (I recommend “Dilate”) and see her Mershon Auditorium, tonight at 7:30.