WILMINGTON – Most musicians found their activities curtailed during the pandemic. For the Indigo Girls, the last few years have been particularly busy.
The duo of Emily Saliers and Amy Ray recently released a livestream project, “Look Long: Together,” which took a year-and-a half to complete. They’re the subject of an upcoming documentary film, “It’s Only Life After All,” by Alexandria Bombach. And their music was reinvented for the movie “Glitter & Doom,” about a musician and kid who fall in love at first sight.
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Saliers has been writing music for two stage musicals as well and Ray has released a new solo album, “If It All Goes South.”
The Indigo Girls have been consistently active since releasing their first album, “Strange Fire,” in 1987. Most bands that debuted around that time – if they’re still together – may sporadically release new music together (if at all) and are considered heritage acts.
That’s not the Indigo Girls.
“We still feel like we are a working band. We tour and we make albums and we work, and that feels good,” Saliers said in a recent phone interview.
This latest spate of activity has come on the heels of the release of the 16th Indigo Girls’ studio album, “Look Long,” which arrived in May 2020. A stirring effort, “Look Long” features the duo’s signature melodic folk-pop ( “When We Were Writers,” “Look Long,” “Sorrow And Joy”) yet also creatively pushes through rhythms based in hip-hop (“S**t Kickin’”), Caribbean sounds (“Howl At The Moon”) and rock ‘n’ roll (“Change My Heart,” “K.C. Girl”).
By the time “Look Long” was released, the pandemic had scuttled plans for a full-band tour to support the album. Now, after touring last year with long-time violinist Lyris Hung, Saliers and Ray are making up for lost time.
Saliers said the concerts — with a Wilmington stop coming to Greenfield Lake Amphitheater this weekend — will feature a few songs from the latest album, along with a generous selection of back catalog material. It all features the unique contributions of Hung.
“Some people like the band and some people like us acoustic or just stripped down,” Saliers said. “We just haven’t had the opportunity to tour with the band because of Covid and we really miss that. So it was good to put out the streaming concert and it will be great to get back with the band.”
That streaming concert, “Look Long: Together,” debuted in May 2022 on the VEEPS platform. It features performances of a career-spanning set of songs (some of which include appearances from guests Becky Warren Tomi Martin, Trina Meade and Lucy Wainwright Roche) and combines commentary segments about the songs from Saliers and Ray.
Because of the pandemic, performances had to be woven together from separate film shoots to create full-band live versions of songs. The first step in the process was filming Saliers and Ray playing songs as a duo.
“On some (of those) tracks, we sent them to the players and they listened to our version and played their parts live. Then that all got mixed together,” Saliers said. “Then on other versions, the rhythm section went in first, at least on the recordings, then Amy and I played to the rhythm section live.”
After the footage was complete, extensive editing followed. It included the two musicians watching takes for hours and making notes.
“‘Let’s do a split screen here,’ ‘the lighting needs to be fixed (here),’ ‘this camera angle is no good, let’s use this shot,’” Saliers recounted — “all these meticulous choices you have to make. In the end, we worked so hard on it, we were actually a little discouraged at the eleventh hour. And then watched it and were really pleased with it.”
The year-and-a-half of work that went into the livestream took up some of the pandemic-forced downtime. Saliers also spent considerable time working on two musicals she hopes might eventually get to Broadway.
“One of them is tentatively called ‘Country Radio,’” Saliers said. “It’s the story of a young queer girl growing up in the South and her journey. And she’s also a writer and has a friend who is an incredible singer. It’s about her working through her love of the Southland that she knew and grew up with, and all of the struggles involved with that.”
She has another tentatively called “Starstruck.” It chronicles the efforts of a park ranger and her town to be designated as a dark sky reserve. It integrates a love story involving the ranger and an NPR podcaster whose arrival shakes up the town.
One thing Saliers has not done yet is write for another Indigo Girls album. Saliers and Ray are never short on inspiration as they advocate for a wide variety of social causes, including LBGTQ+ issues, Native American rights, immigration reform and climate change. But Saliers said she’ll need time to process the pandemic and other recent events to even know what to say about those experiences.
The duo might also have to consider how to respond lyrically to what may be a sea change of conservative initiatives coming down the pipeline, with Republicans taking the House majority in the last election and the Supreme Court justices leaning in favor of the GOP. It led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion, last May.
Like many pro-choice advocates, Saliers is appalled by the law’s demise. Legal access to abortion had been established for decades with multiple subsequent Supreme Court rulings that affirmed the Roe decision. Polls have shown a solid majority of Americans didn’t want Roe overturned.
“But the truth is there has been a concerted effort (to overturn Roe),” Saliers said, noting conservative politicians, activists and certain evangelical community members have mounted a strategic plan to gain the power in various levels of government for a while. “So while the thought before was shocking, it’s easy to understand how we’ve come to this place.”
Both Saliers and Ray are gay, and Saliers fears the conservative movement will next seek to repeal rights of minorities and the LBGTQ+ community. The duo stand steadfast in their efforts to support politicians and causes that can lead to the restoration of abortion rights and preservation of human rights.
“As gay person who’s married, I’m like: ‘Is this my country?’ And that’s a big question to ask,” Saliers said. “I understand the complexities of history and how the pendulum swings … But when it affects peoples’ lives and there’s this huge disconnect between this small group of zealots making decisions because they’re so removed from the reality of peoples’ lives, it’s a lot to take in and a lot to live with and a lot to manage.”
The Indigo Girls perform at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater on Friday, April 14.
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