The singer-songwriter duo the Indigo Girls remain true to their Georgia and Atlanta roots after decades of acclaim, hit albums and world tours.
They are currently on tour this summer through October, with a performance at Chastain Park on Sept. 26. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes in studio to discuss their career, activism and music.
Interview highlights:
About performing with Melissa Etheridge on this tour:
“We did start around the same time for sure, and we crossed paths with her in L.A. It’s interesting ’cause they really were like parallel in some ways that we didn’t, we didn’t hang out a lot. She was kind of in that sort of West Coast celebrity world, and just, and we were sort of over here in the Georgia world,” said Ray.
“And she had so many really big hit records and, and. And, you know, we were kind of always a little bit more of a bar band, I guess, in some ways. And when we got together to do this tour, it was like something that we had no expectations of, like, ‘how’s this gonna go, are we gonna like each other and get along and have fun touring together?’ And it was amazing. She was super generous. Her crew was amazing, her band was amazing, everybody was great.”
Their thoughts on the younger generation’s promotion of social justice:
“There are a lot of young artists, particularly queer artists, who are activists largely because they came into the world, forced to be activists, to stand for their own rights and the rights of others,” said Saliers.
“They’re very, very inspiring artists. And I also think that a generation of young people is super savvy, super smart. They know what’s going on with power structures and the old way that they’re hoping to replace, you know, in time and have their voice, and have their say. So I think it’s an extremely vibrant time for young people to be politically and socially active. We’re always inspired by them. Amy and I have always taken great inspiration from young activists.”
On being vulnerable in their documentary, “It’s Only Life After All:”
”Yeah, I mean, for me being in recovery for alcohol, it was like, I remember when I was first in recovery, I was so paranoid someone was gonna see me at a meeting….And I just felt free from that. You know, I don’t really feel any stigma about any illness that I’m going through myself. It just is the way it is. So, I think that Alexandra (Bombach) was very disarming in her questions, and we were in a place where we were just ready to answer them honestly. And that’s what she put together, and our community was very, very supportive,” said Saliers.
