Street roots., October 26, 2012, Page 8, Image 8

street roots
8
Oct. 26, 2012
On the
long, long
road to
Portland
A my Ray o f the
Indigo Girls talks
with Street Roots
about her views on
music and politics
P H O T O B Y J O H N D A V ID RAPER
BY SUE ZALO KAR
activism, gay marriage and much more.
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
hen the Indigo Girls hit the
music scene, a queer folk duo
from Atlanta was quite the
departure from the kinds of role models,
female musicians had. Now known for their
heart-wrenching, gritty lyrics, warm vocal
W
h a rm o n ie s and social c o m m en tary , A m y Ray
and Emily Saliers complement one another
like no other duo and they have made their
mark on the world of social activism just as
intensely as they have on the world of
music.
The duo was coming of age, so to speak,
in the ’80s when other female-based bands
and performers such as 10,000 Maniacs,
Suzanne Vega and Tracy Chapman were
finding success in the mainstream media. It
left an opening for the the duo to shine into
the lives of a flurry of listeners who would
soon become loyal fans and admirers of
their music.
While they continue to produce albums
and tour together, they each have created
individual careers for themselves as well.
Saliers is a restaurateur and author and Ray
has a solo musical career that rounds out
her musical experience.
Recently, Ray sat down with Street Roots
to talk about road maps that have led her to
where she is now, the music industry,
S u e Z alok ar: You and E m ily have been
forging the way fo r not only yourselves, but
also the legions o f fem ale m usicians who have
an d will come behind you. In yo u r experience,
has the m usic industry evolved at a ll fo r
women?
you believe a woman can be this good?”
That kind of thing is still happening. It’s a
mixed bag.
S.Z.: You an d E m ily have always had a
reverence fo r yo u r audience. A s you have
grown up, so has yo u r audience to some
degree. From yo u r perspective, has the
audience changed at all over the years?
A m y Ray: Definately. It’s not perfect, by
any stretch. There are steps forward and
sometimes you step back. Sometimes it
feels like it’s not getting anywhere. It has
evolved though, and there are more
opportunities for female artists — more
exposure. Part of that is the Internet. There
are so many avenues that are free and are
open from the normal gatekeepers.
There is some representation in the
world of country music, but women have to
be a different thing in that world. In Top 40,
there is a lot of women, but it’s in a really
specific way too.
In the world that I’m in — rock and folk
and alt Rock — women are just not given the
same representation. We aren’t archived as
well, we’re not represented in the Top 100
guitar players (with the exception of Joni
Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt). We’re not
mentioned as much in a historical context
either.
Female musicians are often treated as
anomalies with the “wow” factor. “Wow! Can
A.R.: Our core audience that have been
with us since the beginning, they’re older
like we are (laughs). But people always
brought along their younger sibling and kids,
so their audience has stayed more diverse in
some ways than we had expected. We go
through times when our audience is really
small and it’s just a core group of people.
When our audience gets bigger, it definitely
brings in more people that might be
different from us.
There are certain cities where our
audience is mostly women. And then other
places where it is completely mixed, men
women, straight and gay. Our audience is
not as mixed racially though. You’ve just got
to do what you do. You can do things to
make sure people are not alienated. But you
don’t want to fetishize a person’s race.
S.Z.: The Indigo G irls have no policies
against audio recording live shows fo r personal
use a n d enjoyment - a treat fo r yo u r fa n s, to
say the least. What led the Indigo G irls to the
decision to allow taping?
A.R.: When we started — in the ’80s —
people taped shows and passed them
around and that’s kind of how you got the
word out about who you are. It just seemed
silly to not let people do that. The whole
point of music is creating th is com m unity
around it. You can’t really do it any other
way or you won’t really evolve and you won’t
have any continuity or longevity.
When I was kid, I took a cassette player
to all of the shows I went to and taped
them. I taped everything — I have this five-
hour radio special on cassette that was a
tribute to John Lennon the day he died. I
still have that. I treasure those tapes and I
treasure all my bootleg records too.
S.Z.: Your fourth solo album , “L u n g o f
L o ve” came out this spring on yo u r label,
Daem on Records. I read that you collaborated
on the songw riting with producer Greg Griffith
- a fir st fo r you as you a n d E m ily write
separately a n d then come together to arrange.
C a n you talk about the experience o f
co-writing?
A.R.: Yeah. I never do it. I’ve tried it with
a couple of other people, but it never
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