Indigo Girls

Indigo Girls are an American folk rock duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They got their start in Atlanta as a regular act at The Little 5 Points Pub and were tangentially part of the Athena, Georgia college rock scene that included The B-52's, Pylon, R.E.M., the Georgia Satellites, and Love Tractor.  The two women got to know each other as students at Laurel Ridge Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia just outside of Decatur, Georgia. While attending Shamrock High School, they started performing together as the B-Band and Saliers and Ray. Saliers graduated and began attending Tulane University. A year later, Ray graduated and began at Vanderbilt University. Homesick, both returned to Georgia and transferred to Emory University. By 1985, they began performing together again, this time as the Indigo Girls. In an NPR Talk of the Nation interview Mar 20th, 2007 Emily stated "...we needed a name and we went through the dictionary looking for words that struck us and [indigo] was one..." (The name "Indigo Girls" is not related to the term "Indigo Children", as that term was popularized a number of years after the band became famous.)  Their first release in 1985 was a seven-inch single called "Crazy Game"; the b-side was "Everybody's Waiting (for Someone to Come Home)". That same year, the Indigo Girls put out a six-track self-titled EP and in 1987, released their first full-length album, Strange Fire, recorded at John Keane Studio in Athens, Georgia, and including "Crazy Game". With this release, they secured the services of Russell Carter, who remains their manager to the present day; they had first approached him when the EP was released, but he told them their songs were "immature" and they weren't likely to get a record deal. Strange Fire apparently changed his mind.   The success of 10,000 Maniacs, Tracy Chapman, and Suzanne Vega encouraged Epic Records to look for other women singer-songwriters; Epic signed the duo in 1988. Their first major-label release, also titled Indigo Girls, which charted at #22 on the album chart, included a new version of "Land of Canaan", which was also on their 1985 EP and on Strange Fire. Also on the self-titled release was "Closer To Fine", their first hit, which charted at #52 on the pop chart & #26 on the modern rock chart. They even managed one week on the mainstream rock Album-oriented rock chart at #48.  In 1990, they won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. They were also nominated for Best New Artist.  The second album, Nomads Indians Saints, went gold in December 1991 and contained the hit song Hammer and a Nail, a #12 modern rock track; it was not as successful as their first, which was certified platinum at about the same time. The Indigo Girls followed it with the live Back on the Bus, Y'all. 1992's album Rites of Passage was an enormous success, featuring "Galileo", the duo's first top 10 modern rock track (#10). This was followed by Swamp Ophelia in 1994, going platinum in September 1996, and charting at #9 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

In 1995, the Indigo Girls released a live, double-CD, 1200 Curfews. They performed a duet with their culture-hero, Ferron on the track Stand Up on her CD Phantom Center and Saliers appeared on Ferron's album Still Riot. Shaming of the Sun appeared in 1997 followed by Come On Now Social in 1999. Shaming of the Sun debuted at number seven on the Billboard charts, driven by the duo's high profile contribution to the Lilith Fair music festival tour. The track Shame On You received more airplay at adult alternative, top 40 & adult top 40 radio stations than any of their previous singles, although this seemed to be a peak in their crossover success.  2000 saw the release of Retrospective, a compilation album with two new tracks, and in 2002 the Indigo Girls released Become You, a full album of new songs which gained much critical acclaim and became a fan favorite. Their last Epic studio album is All That We Let In, released in 2004 with an accompanying tour. On June 14, 2005 they released Rarities, a collection of b-sides and rare tracks partially decided by fans' input, which fulfilled the album count obligation for their contract with Epic.  See the Indigo Girls LIVE!  Purchase your Indigo Girls tickets today!