Now entering their fourth decade of music creation and live performances, Georgia native folk rock music duo of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, better knowns as the Indigo Girls, bring their popular show back to one of their favorite live venues, Humphrey’s by the Bay, Friday Aug. 12.
“Well for one thing, we love playing Humphrey’s. It’s so special and has become this gig we do almost every year and a show we really look forward to. It’s become its own little thing and we’re really into it,” says Amy.
“It’s so funny. We walked out into venue the first time we played there thinking it would be hard to get people into the show and engage and stuff. But we were so wrong!” laughs Amy.
Forming as the Indigo Girls in 1985 while in college at Emory University, Amy and Emily each identified as lesbian as well as environmentalists, feminists (they were part of the original Lilith Fair Tour in 1997), and are active politically. Yet they met many years before as kids in elementary school.
After releasing their debut Strange Fire independently in 1987, the Indigo Girls were signed to Epic Records during the success of other female folk-based artists such as 10,000 Maniacs, Tracy Chapman and Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians. But it was their work with Athens, Georgia artists including Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills of R.E.M. as well as the Irish band Hothouse Flowers that really helped the duo break through on college radio in the late 1980s.
The 1990 Grammy winning self-titled Epic Records debut, Indigo Girls became a huge college radio hit in 1989 with the single “Closer to Fine” as well as tracks like “Tried to Be True” and “Land of Canaan.” The following year they were also nominated for Best New Artist, but somehow the Grammy Award went to Milli Vanilli, who later had the award revoked.
Amy says, “We got really lucky. We came in at a time when radio would play R.E.M. or Oasis and then the Indigo Girls. It was in that window when radio was wide open. Commercial radio was ‘mavericky’ and college radio was really strong.”
The duo continued with a string of hit singles including the Top Ten modern rock hit “Galileo” in 1992, a song about reincarnation with “How long till my soul gets it right/Can any human being ever reach the highest light/I call on the resting soul of Galileo/King of night vision, king of insight.” But it was not until 1997 as part of the Sarah McLachlan-led Lilith Fair that their single “Shame on You” crossed over to Top 40, receiving more airplay than any previous single.
However, Amy adds, “We didn’t depend on record sales, we depended on touring. We always had an emphasis on playing live, so that really helps.”
Beginning in 2009, after 10 albums on major labels, the Indigo Girls began releasing their albums on their own, independent label, IG Recordings, and distributed by Vanguard Records. “Becoming independent artists didn’t feel like a radical departure,” says Amy. “We still have the support of Vanguard Records, so we get the best of both worlds.”
Their latest release, One Lost Day arrived in June 2015, several years after their previous album, Beauty Queen Sister, and is their 15th studio album. During the four-year hiatus, the Indigo Girls were still touring. But they also each had kids and became busy as mothers. Emily’s child is three and a half and Amy’s child is two and a half.
“We took some chances on the making of One Lost Day with a new producer, engineer and various musicians,” Emily said. “Stretching like that felt liberating to me. Each song tells a story of where we’ve been and what we’ve thought about, whom we’ve met, and the travels we’ve had. It is a travelogue on lessons learned and love lived.”
The new album is described as having a feeling of music composed across time, not just in time. The songs are rooted in tradition and inventive, too: nourished in dark soils, leafing and luminous. As independent artists, the duo now has the freedom to select producers and for the first time they worked with a producer, Jordan Brooke Hamlin, who grew up listening to their music.
Emily says, “I’m so glad we brought Jordan Hamlin on board to take us to new musical landscapes for this group of songs. And my relationship with Amy feels further strengthened by the collection of these songs and the diligent effort to make them the best they could be.”
A classically-trained horn player, Hamlin contributed “layered ethereal horn parts and a strong vision and ear,” says Emily. With Hamlin, the Indigo Girls took new risks that paid huge dividends. The collaborative spirit is loud on the new music, utilizing a host of musicians both familiar and new to the duo.
For this show, Amy says, “We’re bringing a couple of people to play with us. Lucy Wainwright Roche, who is also opening for us. Plus, she returns later in the show to play with us. And Jordan Brooke Hamlin, who produced our last record, is with us. She plays violin and brings her other stuff because she always has something cool to add.”
“That means we can do some more obscure songs that people have asked us to play for years. Now we’ve learnt the songs and can play them,” says Amy.
As LGBT activists throughout their musical career, including performances such as the True Colors Tours in 2007 and 2008 with proceeds going to the Human Rights Campaign, the Indigo Girls have long pioneered as leaders for the community. However, Amy notes that we still have a long way to go. “We still have to keep making progress. We have made a lot. It’s amazing that a guy like Ted Cruz can say he is for gay rights, but his policies are not pro-gay. But the fact that he would say that (he is for gay rights) means something is different,” comments Amy.
“I think now we need to take the progress we’ve made and make sure it’s affecting the people that need it,” says Amy. Going on to explain that we need to better assist disenfranchised communities like those in rural areas where LGBT resources are not readily available. Adding, “If you live in California or in Chicago, you are seeing the progress. But if you live in a more conservative place you are still struggling.”
Emily and Amy live separate lives, take on independent projects, but share “the same set of values,” says Emily. “We both embrace the struggle, share the same energy. We are sisters in our embrace of life. Observers.” That sort of artistic kinship is rare and cosmic.
The Indigo Girls have spent 35 years performing together, produced 15 albums (seven gold, four platinum, and one double platinum), earned a Grammy and seven Grammy nominations, and have toured arenas, festivals and clubs the world over.
The Indigo Girls perform live at Humphrey’s by the Bay Friday, Aug. 12 at 7:30 p.m. with Lucy Wainwright Roche opening. Tickets are available through humphreysconcerts.com
