INDIGO GIRLS

Formed: 1983, Athens, Georgia

Members: Amy Ray, guitar, vocals (born Decatur, Georgia, 12 April 1964); Emily Saliers, guitar, vocals (born New Haven, Connecticut, 22 July 1963).

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Indigo Girls (1989)

Hit songs since 1990: "Closer to Fine," "Galileo," "Least Complicated"

In 2003 the idea of two guitar-slinging, harmonizing female singer/songwriters making a go at the music business as a duo hardly seems revolutionary, but that is just what the Indigo Girls were when they caught the attention of fans, radio, and Christian conservatives in the early 1990s. After their formation, the Indigo Girls, who are up front about their homosexuality, went on to write scores of folk rock hits. They performed at sell-out arenas, joined Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair tour in the late 1990s, and released a handful of platinum-selling albums. The Indigo Girls melded the personal and the political without sacrificing one for the other, without succumbing to didacticism, and without losing their musicality.

The pair met when Amy was ten and Emily eleven, at school in Decatur, Georgia. They formed a musical partnership early on, and released a cassette of mostly cover songs called Tuesday's Children under the name Saliers and Ray. They went to college together at Emory University and changed their name to the Indigo Girls.

The Seamless Blending of Opposites

Saliers, with fair skin and blonde hair, possesses a wispy, velvety voice, and usually writes the more introspective, contemplative ballads. Ray is often full of fire and has a raspier, more earthy voice. They do not usually write a song together—they will compose separately and play together, working out guitar parts and harmonies when they combine it all to form a song.

Their breakthrough album, the self-titled Indigo Girls (1989), was their second release but their first for Epic Records, which signed them in 1988. With production help from Scott Litt, who worked with fellow Georgians and superstars R.E.M., and guest vocals from Michael Stipe and the Irish group Hothouse Flowers, the work is a collection of folk rock songs about coming to terms with yourself, your world, and your relationships. The spiritual quest "Closer to Fine," written by Saliers, was the album's first single, and it climbed up the charts to peak at number twenty-two on the Billboard 200. Listeners were impressed with "Kid Fears," with vocal help from Michael Stipe. The album's territory, ruminations on faith, love, and religion, whether in passionate ballads such as Ray's "Blood and Fire" or Saliers's heartfelt ballad "History of Us," marked the duo as intelligent musicians with a keen command of melody and harmony. As a result, the Indigo Girls were asked by Neil Young and R.E.M. to tour as an opening act. By September 1989 Indigo Girls reached gold and the pair won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Group of 1989.

Confession, reflection, and instigation are qualities of a good Indigo Girls song. On their earlier albums, they stuck with an acoustic approach and sometimes fleshed out their sound with the addition of bass, drums, and other instruments. In 1990, they issued Nomads Indians Saints, which was not a critical success although it was nominated for a Grammy.

The Rites of Success

By this point, the Indigo Girls began to release an album approximately every two years and were beginning to hit their stride as songwriters. Rites of Passage (1992) fared better, with the rousing "Galileo," which finds the Girls questioning themselves, the solar system, and invoking the spirit of Galileo to sort things out for them. On Rites of Passage they tackle everything from governmental misbehavior to Native American rights to romantic disappointment without loss of hope, energy, or passion, as in Love Will Come to You. Other standout tracks include the rambunctious, mandolin-fueled "Joking," and their cover of the Dire Straits song "Romeo and Juliet," which, as a duet between two women, adds a completely different feel to the impassioned love song. The album also boasts appearances from singer/songwriter Jackson Browne, bassist Edgar Meyer, fiddler Lisa Germano, and Celtic instruments such as bouzouki, bodhrán, and uillean pipes.

Showing their reliability as solid, skilled songwriters and performers, the Indigo Girls followed up with Swamp Ophelia (1994), which peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200. A turning point for them, it reaches beyond the comfort zone of weepy ballads and anthemic rock. It offers a close look at their relationships, particularly in "Least Complicated" and "Power of Two." Swamp Ophelia is not as murky or maudlin as the title might suggest.

The Indigo Girls spent part of their summers in the late 1990s touring with Sarah McLachlan's all-female Lilith Fair, and produced a live album along the way. In 2003 they released the understated Become You, which features the subtle use of horns, piano, and organ. Their ninth album, Become You, shows the wisdom of their years as a musical partnership. With "Yield," written by Ray, they sing "It takes a lot to keep it going / It takes a lot to keep it real / It takes a lot to learn to yield." Become You also finds the pair willing to explore relationship issues more directly, specifically in the Saliers-penned "She's Saving Me" and the lilting strings of ballad "Hope Alone."

As the Indigo Girls, Ray and Saliers proved to radio and record label executives that two women with guitars can indeed make a mark on pop music. Through their years together the Girls have been honest, to themselves and to their music, and their voices have resonated with fans and critics alike.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Strange Fire (Indigo Records, 1987); Indigo Girls (Epic, 1989); Nomads Indians Saints (Epic, 1990); Rites of Passage (Epic, 1992); Swamp Ophelia (Epic, 1994); 1200 Curfews (Epic, 1995); Shaming of the Sun (Epic, 1997); Come on Now Social (Sony, 1999); Become You (Sony, 2001).

carrie havranek