Indigo Girls –
Celebrating the Rites of Passage
Interview with
Emily Saliers
For the first time, Emily Saliers and
Amy Ray──better known as Indigo Girls──have stepped outside the bounds of the
sound they’ve come to be known and loved for. On Rites of Passage, the
duo’s third major label release, there’s a new rhythmic undercurrent provided by
a variety of Latin and African percussion instruments. The stellar supporting cast,
including B-52s’ bassist Sara Lee, drummers Jerry Marotta and Kenny Aronoff,
and various members of Siouxsie and the Banshees, provides an exquisite musical
palette on which Emily and Amy paint their most vivid pictures yet. Their
harmonies, perhaps the most powerful and striking among the ranks of newer
artists, send a nonstop barrage of chills down the spine. The songs truly mark
the duo’s passage to a new level of maturity and depth of outlook.
During rehearsals for their current
U.S. headlining tour, Emily Saliers took a break to talk about the duo’s past,
present, and future. More like a conversation with a long-lost college friend, our
talk covered a lot of ground, and left no doubt that the combined talents (and
refreshing intelligence) of the Indigo Girls that has brought them this far
will carry them further still.
Roy Abrams: Your earlier LPs consisted largely of
material that had a solid performance life behind it. This album marks a radical
departure from that. The recording process must have been markedly different
from the past. What were the sessions like?
Emily Saliers: Well, from my point of view, it felt like a
wide-open world for what we could do with the songs. When we first out, I think
Amy and I were a little afraid of losing our essence by adding things on the
record. It was our first “real” studio experience; in a way, on the first record
and even on Nomads, Indians, and Saints, we sort of hampered (original
producer) Scott Litt’s wanting to expand a little more, musically, I think. Then,
we switched producers, and Peter Collins did this one. Amy and I started
talking about all the ethnic musical influences we wanted, with the Irish musicians
and Talvinde from Siouxsie and the Banshees playing the tabla and percussion. We
started picking out players and influences that we wanted on the songs, and it
was just such a creative and fun process. I think the fact that the songs were
new and hadn’t been weathered by tons of performance left them open, which was
very healthy.
RA: The guest singers on this album are a “who’s
who” of some of the best harmony singers on the planet: The Roches, Jackson Browne, David
Crosby──how did they get involved?
ES: We sort of kept running into these people. We
met Jackson a couple of years ago. We were doing a show in L.A. and he sang a
song with us that night, and we stayed in touch. We did a benefit (later) for
the Verde Valley School in Arizona, which is a really cool private school that
Jackson’s been involved with for years and David (Crosby) was at that concert.
He and Graham (Nash) sang some songs; he told me he liked our music. I knew we
were about ready to record, so I asked him if he would sing on the record. He
said yes, and I almost died right there in front of him! The Roches we’ve known
for years. I grew up listening to their music. It’s a dream come true to work with
these people.
RA: I would imagine. How did you put the vocals together
on those tracks?
ES: On “Airplane,” The Roches did that
arrangement themselves. Amy and I didn’t touch it. We sent them a demo of the
song with just the two of us singing, and they wrote their arrangement, came to
the studio, we sat around five microphones, Amy and I strummed the guitars, and
that’s how we did it!
RA: I hope flying’s getting easier for you, by
the way …
ES: [Laughing] It’s not! I’ve had a setback, but
it’s just something I have to deal with. It just makes me very uncomfortable. I
can’t understand how a big old piece of metal can get off the ground.
RA: How did you put “Let It Be Me” together?
ES: Jackson and David sang on that. We just sat down
together at a piano and picked out a few notes ... it happened just like that.
RA: It must have been something else to have
been in that room at that time.
ES: You know, you try not to act like it’s
blowing you away! God, this year’s been chock full of so many wonderful
experiences like that.
RA: Your own sense of harmony is what draws a
lot of people to your music. Is it an intuitive thing with both of you, or do
you sit down and work them out?
ES: It’s intuitive to the extent that I feel how
the harmonies are going to work. When I finish a song, I start to hear lines come
into my head. We actually pound it out after the intuition. Sometimes, we have to
step back and look at how the song will build dynamically. Amy’s got a real
good sense of that──when to add, when not to add. I have a very innate sense of
harmony, so that works that way.
RA: The combination is very intriguing. Distinct
personalities, very different voices, and songwriting styles yet the blend
touches on the magical, often crossing that border. Any thoughts on your influences
on each other?
ES: Well, it’s definitely a yin/yang chemistry, completely.
Our personalities are really different. We listen to different kinds of music. Amy’s
much more rock and roll, alternative music influenced. I’m more influenced by
singer/songwriter narrative music. Amy comes from a lot of anger, writing of
the earth and sensual images. I intellectualize things a little more; I write my
songs like an English paper!
RA: I get the feeling from your lyrics that you
read quite a lot. What’s inspired you, both musically and in literature?
ES: Actually, our literary influences are more
aligned than our musical influences. We both love Southern literature──Faulkner,
Flannery O’Connor; that sort of bizarre, steeped-in-Southern-thickness style of
writing. I rediscovered Virginia Wolff this past year. Amy found this poet
named Frank Stanford. He really moved her to write. We’ve both been reading a
lot of non-fiction too; a lot of history. Musically, my greatest influence has
been Joni Mitchell. She’s still new to me; I never get tired of her stuff. Bob
Dylan’s the other big one. Amy’s also into Dylan and, at an earlier stage, Neil
Young. We both liked James Taylor at a very early stage. Later on, Amy got into
bands like Husker Du, the Replacements, and the Jam.
RA: When did you and Amy first start working
together?
ES: We met at elementary school. I moved to
Atlanta from Connecticut when I was nine. We lived in the same neighborhood.
RA: That’s pretty convenient …
ES: Yeah, really! We got to be good friends
toward the end of high school. That’s when we started playing professionally,
around 1980. I went off to Tulane University
for two years Amy went to Vandy (Vanderbilt University) for a year, and
then we both ended up transferring to Emory in Atlanta. That’s when we became
the Indigo Girls and our fan base became solid, at least locally. That was the catalyst.
RA: Who came up with the name?
ES: Amy found the name in the dictionary. She
was thumbing through it for some ideas, you know, and that word popped out.
Pretty plain and simple!
RA: What were the early days like?
ES: The sentiment felt exactly the same. We
still feel the same way playing together as we did back them. The only difference
is that we had so much to learn. We had to run our own sound system, book our
own gigs, call up the radio stations ourselves after we’d sent out the records
from the post office. It was sort of a nine-to-five job! We were, I guess, paying
our dues back then, although it didn’t really feel like it.
RA: When did you first realize that you were on
the way to “making it”?
ES: Well, “making it” is such a relative term.
Each step along the way seemed like “making it.” The first time we got a gig playing
at an open mic night, we thought that was heaven. Then we got a gig playing at
a regular bar where we got paid; after that, we got to open for someone like
John Sebastian. At that point, we felt like that was everything. So,
each step of the way felt like success. We were never stagnant. It was a very
natural and healthy progression.
RA: I know it’s kind of tough to put the creative
process into words, but can you describe how your creativity gets sparked?
ES: I sort of feel it all the time. I get
pricked by different thoughts or experiences. If I’m out at a bar listening to
music and I notice something going on at the next table, or if I’m getting
cynical about relationships, or read something in the paper … I mean, the
inspiration is all around, in life. You feel it growing inside you, this
thought that has to be put down. I know Amy keeps a little book and she jots
down her thoughts, which is a good thing to do so you don’t forget. So, it sort
of broods inside you, then you pick your time, when you sit down with your
guitar. I like to be in a real quiet space where I can gather my thoughts.
RA: What was the inspiration behind “Ghost”?
ES: I’m typically a bleeding-heart type of
person. You know, the feelings between two people, feelings of love and
attraction that get sparked … that’s one of my favorite things to experience
and to write about. That was the seed to be planted for that song, and I found
those chords early on. I started playing them during soundchecks and they had a
good, somber, but rolling feel to them. Then I just started thinking about the
way it can happen that either you fall in love with someone, or there’s a relationship
for a time, and then it ends, and it just gets built to be this powerful,
mysterious force in your life and you’re never going to get over it. It’s alive
and well, even though the ties aren’t there anymore. I think that’s a basic
human experience.
RA: How did Michael Kamen turn up on that track?
ES: [Giggles] That was Peter Collins’ doing. Michael
Kamen did the strings on “Silent Lucidity” (Queensryche), which Peter produced.
Peter was really bucking for strings on that song. When I first wrote it, it
was a very intimate song, and I was very afraid that the strings would turn it
into a sweeping ballad, and I didn’t want that. So, we fought over it, in a friendly
way. Finally, we grew to respect Peter’s opinion so much that, in the end, I
said, “Okay, Peter, if Michael can do this … “ Michael loved the song; he gathered
his orchestra and put all this stuff down, and then we weeded it out a little
bit and ended up with a compromise.
RA: “Galileo” is another really interesting
track.
ES: Reincarnation is something I’ve been thinking
about a lot over the past year and a half. Actually, I don’t think about it all
the time, but it seemed to get brought up, and it’s a very popular subject
among certain friends. This one friend and I were discussing it into the wee
hours of the night. When I started writing the song, I wanted to approach it
from a lighthearted point of view. I just figured, since Galileo had discovered
such great truths, he must be an advanced soul in some way. And his name had kind
of a ring to it.
RA: What are some of your favorite Indigo Girls songs
from all phases of your career?
ES: Well … of Amy’s songs, I always like “Kid
Fears.” It’s really very powerful, especially live, when people are singing
along with it. I think it’s a great song. I love singing “Secure Yourself,”
too. I find it very uplifting … I also really like singing “Pushing the Needle
Too Far.” It’s a powerful, raw rock and roll song. All of Amy’s songs on the
new record I really like. I think “Cedar Tree” is a powerful song in its
simplicity. Of my songs, I think the best one I ever wrote was “History Of Us.”
It just poured out of me. I was in Europe with my family; it’s all true, the
images, nothing was made up. I put everything into it and it flowed out. I think
“You And Me And The 10,000 Wars” is a good song. It’s hard to talk about your
own songs, but I think my favorite of mine on the new record is “Ghost.” It
seems like the songs that really just pour out of me are the ones that turn out
to be my best.
RA: Where do you think contemporary music is
headed?
ES: That’s a hard question, ‘cause there are so
many different kinds of contemporary music. The only trend I see that bothers
me is that music is becoming more and more mindless on the radio. The lyrics
don’t mean anything; the songs aren’t musically interesting (not to my ears,
anyway!). I think we get lazy with what we accept as music … and what MTV
promotes. I hardly ever find something new that blows me away. Well, Wynona
Judd; I love country music. All the new artists that keep coming out of country
(music) are great. But then, I also go back and listen to Led Zeppelin, Joni
Mitchell, CSN, Jackson Browne. We both are influenced by a lot of people from
Atlanta, local artists like Kristen Hall, Gerard McHugh, and the Ellen James
Society. You know, the stuff that counts will last and stand the test of time.
RA: I think your music will have a place of its
own in that category.
ES: We’ll see. I hope so, ‘cause we’re having an
awesome time!
RA: What are your plans for the rest of 1992?
ES: I think we’re gonna be touring behind this
album for quite some time. Afterward, Amy’s got her record label (Dameon Records)
that keeps her very busy. I’m interesting in writing a bunch of songs and maybe
doing some collaborative writing, and maybe trying to get my songs to some
other people and see if anyone wants to record them. And I want to become a
better golf player, too!
RA: Golf? Okay.
ES: And I wanna have fun.
© Roy Abrams 2021
Originally published in The Island-Ear,
July 14-27, 1992 issue
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