Long-running folk-rock duo The Indigo Girls should need no introduction. They are currently on tour in support of their 13th full-length album, Beauty Queen Sister, released last fall on their own label, IG Records. We spoke to Emily Saliers ahead of their upcoming show at Maymont Park on Thursday July 26th with the Shadowboxers.
So, you guys have been on tour for about a week now. How is that going?
We started last month, so this is the second leg, and its going great, cause we're playing with this band called the Shadowboxers and they'll be in Richmond with us. They're this great pop rock, sort of funk band. They open the show and then they play with us during our set. So we've had a blast having them be our band, adding the harmonies, extra instrument parts, getting to rock out. It's been really really fun, and really really hot. We're in Kansas City, it's like 105 degrees right now.
Really? It's not even that bad in Richmond. So how did you meet up with the Shadowboxers?
I actually met one of them at a Seder. I go to my best friend's Seder every year, and he was there. He sang after we had the celebration and I'm like, "Oh my god, you're amazing." And he says, "Yeah, well, I have a band." I went to go hear his band, and three of them went to Emory [University], where Amy [Ray] and I went. I immediately called my manager and was like, "You gotta sign these guys." And it was cool, because they are kind of just like us. They started in college, and they played on campus and locally. And besides being really great, talented writers, and singers and players, they're just super nice guys. So it's been a really great time for me and Amy to be sharing the stage with them.
So I saw that after the show in Richmond, you're going to be doing several dates with some symphony orchestras. Is that something new, or something you've done before?
No, its brand new. The first time will be with the Chattanooga Symphony on July 28th. It's just something we've had percolating for a while. There's an agency that connects writers and symphonies. We have several dates booked already, and it's kind of going to be an ongoing thing where we can just pick up our guitars--the scores will already be written, and we own those. And we send them off, and we can go play anywhere with a symphony that wants us. It's pretty fun.
So do you have any sort of rehearsal process for that?
Yeah, we were just discussing that. The first show, we're going to have a day before rehearsal, but then, from now on it's just going to be: show up, do a sound check and rehearsal with the orchestra, and go for it. They will already have the music and their parts, and then Amy and I will just have to sort of wing it with a big old orchestra behind us.
So they will have been rehearsing it for a while before you get there?
I hope so.
So, you released your most recent album, Beauty Queen Sister, on your own record label. What would you say is the most important thing that releasing your own record lets you do?
There are a lot of things. One is that you can put out records whenever you want, as long as you can afford them. You don't have to wait for record company. We've never had this problem, but I know nightmare stories of bands whose record companies hold their records, don't release them, and really screw them over. There's none of that. It's all very closely controlled and contained. We overlook all the budgets, and it's just very organic. Amy and I can be as productive and prolific as we want to be. Everything about it is perfect for us at this point in our career. There's nothing a major label could do for us right now.
Well, the record sounds really great. How much does it help, working with a producer [Peter Collins] who you have known for a long time?
I think it helps. We still play with new players that we haven't ever played with, and that's exciting, but with Peter Collins, we get a person who has a respect both for Amy's music and my music and is able to bring to each of the songs something that's really satisfying for both of us. I think in order to get in and expedite record making like you have to do when you're paying for it on your own, it really helps to have someone you know and trust. You can get in there and get right to work.
One song on the record I want to to know more about is "John."
I have a little cabin in the woods up in north Georgia. John is my neighbor and his family goes back generations there. If a tree falls, he takes care of it, and he actually trims the crepe myrtles and bushwhacks the field. He makes it so that I can go up there and feel like I live in the country. I have a lot of gratitude to him and to his family, and to the history of that place. So I wrote a song for him.
Throughout the nineties there was a movement of female singer/songwriters moving into the mainstream, and that kind of even drove alternative popular music for a while. Do you worry that girls and young women today have to look harder to find encouraging examples of female artists that might inspire them to pick up a guitar and create their own music?
I don't think so. Now, with the internet, YouTube, the way technology has made it cheaper to make your own recordings, even if it's just a song, I think you can find anything you want out there. In fact, I think there are more examples now, and you still have young, creative artists like Ingrid Michaelson, Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile; women either playing piano or guitar who are quite inspiring in terms of women who are getting radio exposure. And for those who aren't, you can find them on YouTube. Amy and I are involved in these Girls Rock camps, particularly the one in Atlanta, and its an opportunity where young girls can come and meet each other [Check out the RVA branch of Girls Rock HERE-ed.]. Some of them pick up instruments for the first time, and they write a song together and then they perform it live. So there are all kinds of great opportunities, stuff that Amy and I never actually had growing up, that inspire girls and women to participate in music.
Outside of music, what do you most love to spend your time on?
Oh well, music is number one, and, I think, just pretty much normal things. One thing I do love--I'm a co-owner of a restaurant in Atlanta called Watershed. I'm a big foodie, I'm really into the food world, into the slow movement, into the farm-to-table. I like the food business, so that is a passion of mine. Beyond that, there is a small dog rescue group that I really like to support. And then in my free time I really like hanging out at home. I like hanging out with my dogs and my girlfriend, my family and friends. Then, even though we travel all the time I sill love to travel all over the world and experience different cultures. So I just like to do what a lot of other people like to do; I'm just fortunate to have time to do that when I'm off the road.
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The Indigo Girls perform at Maymont Park with The Shadowboxers on Thursday, July 26. Gates open at 5:30, show begins at 6:30. Advance tickets can be ordered HERE.