The Indigo Girls Deliver Again – Amy Ray Talks to Cherry Grrl

Two words come to mind when an Indigo Girls fan thinks about Amy Ray and Emily Saliers: “Thanks, y’all.” It’s the way they have been transitioning from one song to another at their shows for decades and it’s the most accurate way to acknowledge what they have done throughout their career. But with 10 major-label studio albums, a Grammy win and 6 nominations, a steady delivery of tours in all areas of the world, and an unwavering commitment to social, political, and environmental activism – thanking them doesn’t seem nearly good enough. The Indigo Girls truly are one of the most genuine, hard working, kind, and talented duos to have ever existed in the music industry and they have achieved all of their success by following their own unique and inspirational path. Now, with their first studio album in three years, Poseidon and the Bitter Bug, and first release on their new independent label, they have once again given their fans a reason to be thankful by delivering the effortless harmonies, passionate lyrics, and infectious melodies that only they can. Amy Ray recently took the time to talk to Cherry Grrl and share with us her thoughts on recording independently, performing at The Dinah for the first time, Katy Perry, and more…

Cherry Grrl (CG): What can you tell us about the new release, Poseidon and the Bitter Bug? What can fans expect from this one?

Amy Ray (AR): Well the thing that we did with this to sort of stand out was we recorded the whole record with the band and then we went back at the very end of the recording and spent three days just doing the songs acoustically. So it’s a double CD and one CD is just all the songs as an acoustic duo, live – no over dubs – with an extra track. And then the other CD is the band version of everything.

CG: Why did you decide to go that route this time, in providing the two versions?

AR: It was really the producer’s idea because – I think he had been reading some blogs or something – and he said, “I think your fans want you to make a record just you and Emily alone.” And we were like, “well we want to do it this way,” so he suggested we record it both ways. So, we did. And it was fun… I mean it was definitely harder than I thought it would be (laughs). Emily said it was easier than she thought but for me I was like, wow, it’s like I’ve never played an acoustic duo before. It felt strange because I think I’m not used to doing it in a studio like that. It’s different when you’re live because if you mess up it just goes by really fast but when you do it in the studio you have to just keep doing it over and over again and you have to go through the whole song and get everything exactly the way you want. And so I was just over-thinking it and getting nervous about it and then when I let go of that, it was fine.

CG: This was the first release for you and Emily under IG Recordings. What has that change meant to you?

AR: We were making plans to make a record and sort of knew who we wanted to work with and everything and then we got dropped from Hollywood Records, from that record deal, and I think we were both pretty excited actually because we were like – now we can just carry on and sort of just do what we want to do. And you know we just decided – and it wasn’t even a question – that we were going to make it ourselves and create a little label for it. Mitchell [Mitchell Froom is the veteran producer, arranger, and keyboardist who worked on Poseidon and the Bitter Bug] called us and he was like, “I still want to do the record, you can pay me less,” and everybody came to us like, “we know you’re budget’s lower and we’ll cut you deals.” So it felt like a community experience and exciting to kind of be on our own. And then Vanguard came and said they wanted to distribute it and they have such a great distribution system and they’re still independent as well. So it just felt like we kind of got the best of both worlds. We got this great distributor who has a legacy of really important folk recordings and we got to have our own label. So it’s real exciting.

CG: Are there any particular songs on the new album that stand out as your favorites?

AR: There are a couple. “Sugar Tongue” is a song that I worked on for a really long time and was pretty important to me because it was kind of a different direction for me vocally, and melodically as well. And lyrically it was something that I just really worked hard on. And then I think “Second Time Around” is another one for me, just on a sentimental level, because of the subject matter about sort of community and women and being allies and stuff. So probably those two songs for me, for my own writing, are standouts. And for Emily’s, I love the song “Digging for your Dream.” It’s a really different direction for her and it’s a great song – it’s a particular favorite. And the song “I’ll Change” is another particular favorite of mine. And that one just because it’s so beautiful, the melody is just so beautiful.

CG: You and Emily will be appearing at The Dinah, Club Skirts Dinah Shore weekend in Palm Springs, this year. Is that a first for you?

AR: Yeah! It is (laughs). I feel like I might have been out there before just to hang out – I’m not sure though. A lot of my friends have gone out there and hung out and I didn’t even know they had. I didn’t realize it was such a… a thing. And now I get it – it is a thing… I get it now (laughs). I kind of catch on late. But I’m excited, I think it’s gonna be fun.

CG: Well you will certainly have a lot of fans there. Can they expect to see you and Emily maybe collaborate with any of the other artists who will be out there performing – like Uh Huh Her (Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey) or Katy Perry?

AR: Well I’ve heard Leisha’s music but I don’t know that configuration that she’s doing right now, and I’ve never met her, I just know of her because we have people in common. So, what is likely to happen is that we’ll approach them and be like, “Do you want to sing ‘Closer to Fine?’” (laughs). Because that’s what we always do and then we’ll like, go from there, and see what else happens. We love just like meeting people through that – through singing that song together. And we usually teach someone the verse, if they don’t already know it, and give them the lyrics and then put them on the spot – see if they’ll do it.

CG: Well I hope Leisha and Camila do. That would be great!

AR: It would be so great. And you know it’s good that Katy Perry is going to be there because I just played Seattle as a solo rock thing and The Seattle Stranger, which is an independent art newspaper that I really love, did a really screwed up thing and printed a fake editorial that looked like I wrote it – about the Katy Perry song, whatever that song is… that “I Kissed a Girl” song – and it was like this really graphic political kind of rant that took her to task. But it was done in a way that was really homophobic and kind of stupid, and the language was really bad, and it wasn’t anything that I would have done or anything that I probably would have said to Katy Perry.