Latest Release
- MAR 8, 2024
- 18 Songs
- Indigo Girls (Expanded Edition) · 1987
- Greatest Hits...So Far!!! · 2006
- Rites of Passage (Bonus Track Version) · 1992
- Swamp Ophelia · 1994
- Swamp Ophelia · 1994
- Rites of Passage (Bonus Track Version) · 1992
- Indigo Girls (Expanded Edition) · 1989
- Indigo Girls (Expanded Edition) · 1989
- Rites of Passage (Bonus Track Version) · 1992
- Nomads · Indians · Saints (Expanded Edition) · 1990
Essential Albums
- No matter how the music industry changes, strong songwriting and alluring harmonies never go out of style. The Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have never let fashion dictate their approach or vision. They rode a ‘back to basics’ wave in the late ‘80s to bring their earnest folk music to a mainstream audience and while they allow for modest production touches to augment their coffeehouse folk vibe, they’ve never lost sight of the song. Lisa Germano adds complimentary mandolin and violin, Jane Scarpantoni provides cello in spots, and Ray and Saliers fingerpick with admirable precision, but it’s the sweet harmonies and swirling melodies of “Power of Two,” “Least Complicated,” “Touch Me Fall,” and the slow procession of “Dead Man’s Hill” that prove this group’s personal depth. “This Train Revised” stretches beyond the band’s usual relationship and better world anthems to confront the evils of the Holocaust, ending the album on a warily socially conscious note.
- After four albums of spirited, rootsy folk-rock, Atlanta duo Indigo Girls really tightened up with 1992’s Rites of Passage. Armed with slick production and a bevy of special guests—including David Crosby, The Roches, and Lisa Germano—the pair established a more refined sound, the clear, crisp harmonies of “Love Will Come to You” and mellow, orchestral strings of “Virginia Woolf” ushering in a new era. This is still audibly an Indigo Girls record, though, which is clear from the fiery passion of “Jonas & Ezekiel.”
- On their eponymous debut, the Atlanta-based folk-rock duo Indigo Girls crystallized their distinctive sound: bouncing acoustic guitar and raw close harmonies capturing their charmingly youthful verve. This is clearest on the mega-hit “Closer to Fine,” a beckoning, building paean to hope, and “Secure Yourself,” where Amy Ray and Emily Saliers braid their earthy and celestial voices in a hypnotic spiritual. The rock-laced “Kid Fears” showcases their potent storytelling (with a cameo from R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe), while “History of Us” reveals the pair’s gentler, quixotic side.
- 2015
Artist Playlists
- Folk-rock pickin' with plenty of poetry.
Live Albums
More To Hear
- Emily and Amy chat about their silver-screen debut.
About Indigo Girls
Folk rock duo Indigo Girls started making music together in 1981, when Amy Ray and Emily Saliers sang in the Shamrock High School choir in Decatur, Georgia. ∙ They came up with their band name by flipping through the dictionary, deciding they both liked the word indigo. ∙ “Closer to Fine,” their 1989 breakthrough hit, was a collaboration with Irish band Hothouse Flowers. ∙ In 1989, the Indigo Girls won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album and were nominated for the Best New Artist award, but Milli Vanilli won. ∙ Ray founded Daemon Records, which has put out albums by such artists as Magnapop, Kristen Hall, and Rose Polenzani. ∙ In a 1994 Atlanta revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, Ray played Jesus and Saliers took the role of Mary Magdalene. ∙ The duo set up the indie label IG Recordings as a vehicle for their own music, releasing three successive Top 5 folk albums during the 2010s.
- ORIGIN
- Atlanta, GA, United States
- FORMED
- 1985
- GENRE
- Singer/Songwriter