Of the eleven songs on All That We Let In, six were written by Emily, five by Amy. This is as solid an Indigos mix, as you would expect: weavings of the personal and the political, moody-raw and upbeat, dual guitars and signature vocal harmonies.
Here's the whole story, taken directly from the official website, www.indigogirls.com:
After over two decades and eight studio albums together, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, known to their legion of fans as Indigo Girls, have played thousands of shows. They've operated within the music industry, without ever being a product of that industry, gaining the respect of their peers, not to mention an extremely loyal fanbase. It's an audience that most artists would envy: one that eagerly awaits new music from the duo, and greets older songs like old friends. Fans often go to multiple shows per tour, and never leave the gig until the final note rings out, and the house lights go on. Regardless of which way the pop culture breezes are blowing, who is topping the pop charts, who is dominating fashion magazine covers, or who is getting played on the radio, Indigo Girls' concert experience remains a constant. Catch a show in any given city in America and you will understand the meaning of an enduring artist-audience bond and it has been developed without marketing gurus, corporate tie-ins or spin doctors. Indigo Girls have thrived through flirtations with the mainstream as well as when the media spotlight was pointed elsewhere. But one recent show - on August 14, 2003 at the Central Park Summerstage in New York City - truly revealed volumes about the duo and their relationship with their fans.
You may recognize the date: it was the day that Manhattan, along with much of the Northeastern United States and Canada, lost all electrical power. It's safe to say that the scheduled concerts in the affected areas did not go on as planned. Acts were either unwilling, or unable, to perform without power.
Not so for Indigo Girls: all that they required to play as scheduled was a small generator and a request for everyone to get a bit closer to the stage. Even that might cause problems for other artists: asking fans to cram even closer together, on a muggy evening. But Indigo Girls fans respect each other, just as they respect Amy and Emily .
So the show went on, at least until sundown. (Neither Indigo Girls nor security wanted the fans to try to make their way through a pitch-dark Central Park at night). Other than the brevity of the set and the temporary power source, it was an Indigo Girls show, "as usual," meaning an unpredictable set list with old favorites and songs yet to be recorded. Alongside some of their better known songs ("Become You," "Galileo," "Closer To Fine"), they introduced some tunes from their next album, "Fill It Up Again" and "Dairy Queen." Most artists with a two-decade plus history have a hard time keeping audience interest when they play new songs; few would even dare to play as-yet-unreleased material, for fear of a mass-restroom exodus. Again, not so with the Girls. While the rest of the city was wondering when the power would go on, the temporary denizens of Central Park were wondering how long they'd have to wait before the release of the new Indigo Girls album.
The wait is over with All That We Let In. The credits on the new album are similar to those of 2002's Become You. The Indigo Girls returned to Tree Sound Studios in Georgia, and, again, used producer Peter Collins and the core band of keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Carol Issacs, bass player Clare Kenny and drummer Brady Blade. Not that the Girls don't embrace change: for the first time, Amy - who up to this point, played strictly rhythm guitar - started taking some solos. "I'm learning to play lead," she says. "When I hear something in my head, I want to play it the way I hear it," adding, inaccurately, "I'm not a very good guitar player."
Meanwhile, Saliers, who has played dobro, banjo, bouzouki, classical guitar, piano and hurdy gurdy and guitar on prior albums, made her mandolin and high-string guitar debuts on the). She points out, with typical humility, "I have an aptitude for stringed instruments."
Of the eleven songs on All That We Let In, six were written by Emily, five by Amy. Emily's "Fill It Up Again" kicks off the album. An empowering and upbeat song, Saliers explains "It's about a relationship gone sour, and one person says, 'I'm out of here!' It's about someone taking your strength and power from you, and then you say 'I'm not going to do this anymore.'" Combining matters of the heart with her innate environmental concerns, she compares her partner to "the hole in my sky, my shrinking water supply," to which she comments, "It's fun to take something like the ozone layer and compare it to a relationship!" But she muses, "I guess it's appropriate sometimes."
Amy's "Heartache For Everyone" has a two-tone ska feel and was originally intended for her second solo album. "I was thinking of The Clash, I listen to them a lot. They way I would have done it with one of my punk backing bands would have been similar, but maybe a bit more raw." The yearning in the lyrics are raw enough: "I'll give you six more weeks, just in case, you can change your mind, you won't be replaced/ Are we looking at a lifetime of regret, or just one little moment that we'll never forget."
Emily follows that up with a much happier relationship song, "Free In You." "It's just a straight up love song. It takes into account all our insecurities. And how someone can love you even through those. And how when you find the right person, it's just like breathing. It's just a straight-ahead love song."
On first single "Perfect World," Amy balances concern as a global citizen with having fun in her personal life. "It's about having a good time, and not paying attention to what's going on in the world. And then realizing that you can't do that. You have a responsibility to be accountable."
The title track, written by Emily, had a tragic beginning: "I started that song after losing an activist friend in a car accident and being devastated. And dealing with that loss. It's a positive song in the end; I am optimistic by nature."
"Tether," by Amy, would be a staple on classic rock radio if the format played new music, that is. Featuring the aforementioned duel guitar leads by Amy and Emily, it also features vocals by Joan Osborne. Joan, one of the most distinctive and powerful vocalists alive, currently splits her time between her solo career and singing in The Dead, but she made time to lay down vocals on this song as well as "Rise Up" and "Heartache For Everyone." She also sang on four songs on 1999's Come On Now Social. As Emily points out, "She blends my and Amy's voices together in a way that's unique to the three of us."
Emily's "Come On Home" is unusually dark. "It involves betrayal, a person who runs, a person who 'enables'. There is nothing positive about that song at all!" Amy follows that with "Dairy Queen," an unusually upbeat breakup song: "The love you gave was not for free, but the price was truly fair." It concludes with Ray admitting, "I love you, more and more."
"Something Real" sees Emily in a nostalgic mood. "It took me ten years to call you back, but here we are today," she tells her friend. "So life has brought you this, two marriages and three kids/You're as sweet as you ever were, the slight sickness of regret, washes over me and in the end that's all I get." It may well stand as Emily's most poignant moment as a lyricist.
Amy's "Cordova" is even more melancholy, and has been about five years in the making. About a few of Amy's fellow activists in the Native American community, by the time the song was completed, three of them had, tragically, passed away. "It seems revolution and relationships go hand in hand," she says. "You're working so closely together and then you fall in love, but you don't know if you're falling in love with the person or the revolution. The human dynamics of the revolution fascinate me. There's lots of human frailty. It's not perfect."
Emily's "Rise Up" ends the album on a very upbeat note, fueled by Carol Isaacs's rollicking Elton-esque piano ("I had Elton in mind," Emily says). The Girls sing, in unison, "Rise up your dead, there's life in the old girl yet." To apply the song to the not-very-old Indigo Girls, if this album is any indication, there's lots of life yet, and lots of ground still to cover.
They plan to hit the road this spring, doing a string of dates in their acoustic duo format (although anyone who attends their shows knows that guests, both famous and otherwise, frequently grace the stage at Indigo Girls concerts - there are usually at least three vocal mikes set up on their stage, just in case). After that, they'll pack up the band and do a larger scale tour in the summer. Expect to see voter registration booths and tabling on issues such as environmental justice at the venues. And, after that, they plan on releasing their long-talked about album of rarities - the track list will be made largely based on suggestions from fans. Then, Amy may release her second solo album, and Emily is considering doing her first. After that, another Indigo Girls record and tour. It'll be "business as usual," so to speak - more songs to augment their already-packed catalog, and more concert dates to reconnect with the older fans and to meet new ones. They've been going that way for about two decades, and they've got a few more left in them.
A post-script to the story that began this bio: despite the fact that they performed during the blackout, the Indigo Girls returned to Central Park to "make-up" their abbreviated show on October 1st. This time, the autumn chill replaced the heat, humidity, and blackout-caused stress. The crowd was treated to a 20-plus song set, including nearly half of All That We Let In, as well as songs spanning the duo's career, and a cover of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'." It's true, the times do change, pop culture is always evolving, music tastes ebb and flow, but one of the few constants in rock and roll is that when the Indigo Girls play a show, or put out a record, their fans will still be there - regardless of trends in the industry, weather conditions, or yes, even power outages.
All That We Let In is the ninth studio album by the Indigo Girls, released in 2004. The cover art is by alternative comics artist Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame.
This text has been derived from All That We Let In on Wikipedia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0Artist/Band Information
The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met during elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. They started performing with the name “Indigo Girls” as students at Emory University, performing weekly at The Dugout, a bar in the Emory Village.
They released a self-produced, full-length record album during 1987 and contracted with a major record company during 1988. After releasing nine albums with major record companies from 1988 through 2007, they have now resumed self-producing albums with their own IG Recordings company.
Living very separate lives when not performing or recording, Ray has released solo albums and initiated a not-for-profit record company while Saliers is a restaurateur and a published author. Both Saliers and Ray self-identify as lesbian and are active with political and environmental causes.
Recording and touring
Early years
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers first met and got to know each other as students at Laurel Ridge Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia, just outside of Decatur, Georgia, but were not friends because Saliers was a grade older than Ray. While attending Shamrock High School (now Shamrock Middle School), they became acquainted better, and started performing together, first as "The B-Band" and then as "Saliers and Ray".
Saliers graduated and began attending Tulane University. A year later, Ray graduated and began attending Vanderbilt University. Homesick, both returned to Georgia and transferred to Emory University.
By 1985 they had begun performing together again, this time as the Indigo Girls. In a March 2007 National Public Radio Talk of the Nation interview, Saliers stated "we needed a name and we went through the dictionary looking for words that struck us and indigo was one."
Their first release during 1985 was a seven-inch diameter single album named "Crazy Game", with the B-side "Everybody's Waiting (for Someone to Come Home)". That same year, the Indigo Girls released a six-track Extended play album named "Indigo Girls", and during 1987 released their first full-length album, Strange Fire, recorded in John Keane Studio in Athens, Georgia, and including "Crazy Game". With this release, they secured the services of Russell Carter, who remains their manager to the present; they had first asked him when the EP album was released, but he told them their songs were "immature" and they were not likely to get a record deal. Strange Fire apparently changed his opinion.
Epic Records (1988–2005)
The success of 10,000 Maniacs, Tracy Chapman, and Suzanne Vega encouraged Epic Records company to enlist other folk-based female singer-songwriters; Epic signed the duo during 1988. Their first major-label release, also named Indigo Girls, which scored #22 on the album chart, included a new version of "Land of Canaan", which was also on their 1985 EP album and on Strange Fire. Also on the self-titled release was their first success "Closer To Fine" (an unlikely collaboration with Irish band Hothouse Flowers), which scored #52 on the popular music chart and #26 on the modern rock chart. They even managed one week on the mainstream rock album-oriented rock music chart at #48. During 1990, they won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. They were also nominated for Best New Artist (but lost to Milli Vanilli who eventually had that award revoked).
Their second album, Nomads Indians Saints, sold very well during December 1991 and included the successful song "Hammer and a Nail", a #12 modern rock music track; it was not as successful as their first, which was certified platinum at about the same time. The Indigo Girls followed it with the live Back on the Bus, Y'all and 1992's album Rites of Passage, featuring the song "Galileo", the duo's first top 10 modern rock music track (#10). This was followed by Swamp Ophelia during 1994, selling very well during September 1996, and scoring at #9 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
During 1995, the Indigo Girls released a live, double CD, 1200 Curfews. Shaming of the Sun was vended during 1997 followed by Come on Now Social during 1999. Shaming of the Sun debuted at number seven on the Billboard charts, driven by the duo's contribution to the Lilith Fair music festival tour. The track "Shame on You" was broadcast more by adult alternative, top 40 and adult top 40 radio stations than any of their previous singles, although this seemed to be a maximum of their crossover success.
Retrospective, a compilation album with two new tracks, was released during 2000 and Become You followed two years later. Their last Epic studio album was All That We Let In, released during 2004 with an accompanying tour. On June 14, 2005, they released Rarities, a collection of B-sides and rare tracks partially decided by fan's input, which fulfilled the album count obligation for their contract with Epic.
Hollywood Records (2006–07)
Indigo Girls 2005 01.jpgthumb250pxIndigo Girls performing in 2005.
After departing Epic, the Indigo Girls signed a five-record deal with Hollywood Records, a company owned by The Walt Disney Company. Their first (and only) Hollywood album, Despite Our Differences, produced by Mitchell Froom, was released on September 19, 2006. John Metzger from MusicBox Online described Despite our Differences as "the most infectious, pop-infused set that the duo ever has managed to concoct. In fact, its melodies, harmonies, and arrangements are so ingratiating that the album carries the weight of an instant classic." Thom Jurek from Allmusic wrote: "part of an emotional journey as complete as can be. More relevant than anyone dared expect. It's accessible and moving and true. It's their own brand of rock & roll, hewn from over the years, that bears a signature that is now indelible. A moving, and utterly poetic offering."
The Indigo Girls contract was terminated by Hollywood Records during their 2007 tour to support the album.
Independent work (2007–present)
After their end with Hollywood Records, the Indigo Girls announced their next record would be released independently. Poseidon and the Bitter Bug was released on March 24, 2009, from IG Recordings, the Indigo Girls' label, and distributed through Vanguard Records. This album is their first fully independent release since 1987's Strange Fire, and their first two-CD set since 1995's live album 1200 Curfews; the first disc has the 10 tracks accompanied by a backing band, and the second includes the same 10 songs with only Ray and Saliers on vocals and acoustic guitars, and an additional track.
Songwriting
Ray and Saliers do not ordinarily collaborate in writing songs. They write separately and work out the arrangements together. There are a few exceptions, mostly unreleased songs from their early, pre-Epic days: "I Don't Know Your Name" and "If You Live Like That." "Blood Quantum," which appears on Honor: A Benefit for the Honor the Earth Campaign featured Ray's verses and chorus and Saliers's bridge. Finally, "I'll Give You My Skin," which appears both on Tame Yourself (Benefit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and on the Indigo Girls release Rarities, is a collaborative work by Ray, Saliers, and Michael Stipe which is doubly rare, as Saliers and Ray usually write their songs without outside collaborators.
Touring band
The Indigo Girls have toured as a duo and with a band. In 1990, they toured with the Atlanta band, the Ellen James Society, backing them; they have also toured with side players, with one distinct group from 1991 to 1998 and a second from 1999 onwards:
First touring band
*Gail Ann Dorsey — bass (1994)
*Sara Lee — bass (1991–98)
*Jerry Marotta — drums, percussion (1992–98)
*Scarlet Rivera — fiddle (1992)
*Jane Scarpantoni — cello (1992)
Second touring band
*Brady Blade — drums (2002–04)
*Matt Chamberlain — drums (2006–present)
*Blair Cunningham — drums (2000)
*Caroline Dale — cello (1999)
*Carol Isaacs — keyboards, accordion (1999–2007 and one recent show in Brighton in the UK)
*Clare Kenny — bass (1999–present)
*Caroline Lavelle — cello (2000)
*John Reynolds — drums (1999)
*Julie Wolf — keyboards, accordion (2008–present)
Solo projects
In 1990, Ray founded Daemon Records, which has signed Ellen James Society, Kristen Hall, Rose Polenzani, Cordero, Girlyman, Nineteen Forty-Five, Athens Boys Choir, and James Hall among others.
Ray has put out four solo albums, entitled Stag, Prom, Live from Knoxville, and Didn't It Feel Kinder through Daemon. She has toured with both The Butchies and her band The Volunteers.
Saliers is also planning a solo album, and is co-owner of Watershed Restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, along with two of her friends. Saliers was an initial investor in the Flying Biscuit Cafe in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2005, Saliers and her father, Don Saliers, a theology professor at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, released the book A Song to Sing, a Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice. They promoted the release of the book together including several days of speaking and performing together at the Washington National Cathedral College in Washington D.C.
Appearances in other media
Ray and Saliers appeared in the latter half of the feature film Boys on the Side, playing short excerpts from their songs "Joking" and "Southland in the Springtime," as well as singing "Feliz Cumpleaños" ("Happy Birthday" in Spanish) with the gathered group of friends during the birthday cake scene, and standing on the far side of several shots over the next few scenes. Neither had any spoken lines. The duo also appear in the 2006 documentary Wordplay, where they discuss their reaction to appearing in a New York Times crossword puzzle and then begin to solve one together.
Ray and Saliers performed onstage in the 1994 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar in Atlanta, titled Jesus Christ Superstar: A Resurrection. Ray played the role of Jesus and Saliers played the role of Mary Magdalene. They later reprised their roles in stagings of the musical in Austin, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, and in Seattle.
They made several cameo appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres sitcom "Ellen". In the episode "Womyn Fest" Ellen and her friends are attending a feminist music festival and catch the end of a performance by the Indigo Girls.
Personal lives
Both Ray and Saliers have long identified themselves as lesbians. Saliers jokingly prefers "gay" because — she says — "lesbian has three syllables." They have never been a couple. Ray has had long-term relationships with musician Cooper Seay and feminist author Jennifer Baumgardner, and is currently in a relationship with documentary filmmaker Carrie Schrader. Because of their engagements for LGBT rights they are regarded as icons of the movement.
Political activism
The Indigo Girls have been active politically and musically. They have championed the causes and held benefit concerts for the environment, gay rights, the rights of Native Americans, and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. For many years they incorporated a recycling and public outreach program into their road tours by including Greenpeace representative Stephanie Fairbanks in their road crew. They helped Winona LaDuke establish Honor the Earth, an organization dedicated to creating support and education for native environmental issues. After performing on the activist-oriented Spitfire Tour in 1999, Ray and Sailers joined forces with The Spitfire Agency to develop the Honor The Earth Tour, which visits colleges and Native communities, and raises money for their non profit of the same name. Ray and Saliers have also appeared at the annual SOA Watch rallies, the March for Women's Lives, and several other rallies and protests.
In 2006 the Indigo Girls were featured in artist Pink's album I'm Not Dead in the song "Dear Mr President", which Pink says is a political confrontation with George W. Bush about war, poverty, LGBT rights, abortion rights, and the No Child Left Behind Act. Returning the favor, Pink performed on the Indigo Girls' "Rock and Roll Heaven's Gate," which is about, among other things, sexism and heterosexism in the music industry.
During June 2007 the Indigo Girls were part of the multi-artist True Colors Tour 2007, on the tour's Las Vegas stop which benefited the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations that provide support to the LGBT community. The Indigo Girls performed again on the True Colors Tour 2008.
Discography
Albums
;Studio albums
*Indigo Girls (EP) (1987)
*Strange Fire (1987, independent 11-song version, re-released 1989 in major-label 10-song version) U.S. #159
*Indigo Girls (1989) U.S. #22
*Nomads Indians Saints (1990) U.S. #43
*Rites of Passage (1992) U.S. #21
*Swamp Ophelia (1994) U.S #9, UK #66
*Shaming of the Sun (1997) U.S. #7
*Come on Now Social (1999) U.S. #34
*Become You (2002) U.S. #30
*All That We Let In (2004) U.S. #35
*Despite Our Differences (2006) U.S. #44
*Poseidon and the Bitter Bug (2009) U.S. #29
*Holly Happy Days (2010)
;Live albums
*Back on the Bus, Y'all (Live EP, 1991)
*1200 Curfews (1995) U.S. #40
*Perfect World (EP) (live, 2004)
*Staring Down the Brilliant Dream (live, 2010)
;Compilations
* Deadicated 1991 ("Uncle John's Band")
*4.5 (UK and Australia only, 1995) UK #43
*Retrospective (2000) U.S. #128
*Rarities (2005) U.S. #182
*Metro: The Official Bootleg Series, Volume 1 2010
Singles
Other contributions
*Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation (1996) — "Free of Hope"
*107.1 KGSR Radio Austin — Broadcasts Vol. 10 (2002) — "Moment of Forgiveness"
*WYEP Live and Direct: Volume 4 – On Air Performances (2002) — "Become You"
*Pink — I'm Not Dead (2006) — "Dear Mr President"
*Anne Murray — Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends (2007) — "A Little Good News"
*Brandi Carlile — The Story (2007) — "Cannonball"
Live recording circulation
Indigo Girls allow fans to tape their shows, and appropriately gathered recordings can be traded, obtained for free from a number of sources, including the fan site.
Sound samples
*Download sample of a live cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"
References
This text has been derived from Indigo Girls on Wikipedia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0
