My First... Indigo Girls

After self-releasing their debut album, Strange Fire, in 1987, folk-rock duo the Indigo Girls signed to major label Epic for another nine records, before putting one out with Hollywood Records in 2006. Now, the girls are returning to their independent roots with Poseidon and the Bitter Bug. In honor of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers’ first indie release in more than two decades, Ray enlightened us about some of her and Saliers’ other firsts.

First time the Indigo Girls met: I was nine and Emily was 10 at Laurel Ridge Elementary in Decatur, Ga. She was playing the guitar, actually, and there were a group of people around her. We were not friends because she was a year older than me, so we were just kind of aware of each other.

First time they sang together: We were both in chorus. It was 1980, and we learned a song called “A Junkie’s Lament” by James Taylor for a talent show.

First fan: Ellis Lloyd, our English teacher in high school. We played songs for him to test them out in his classroom after school. Then we would play for the class. It was an Advanced Placement English class—Emily had already taken it and I was in it. We would practice songs in front of him. Emily was writing songs at the time, so he would comment on lyrics. Since he was our English teacher, we trusted him in a creative-writing kind of way. He talked a lot about imagery and metaphors when he taught, and the books that he taught in that class—Heart Of Darkness and Carson McCullers—probably informed our writing. We kept up with him through college and sent him tapes. My mom keeps in touch with him, and he’s still part of our community.

First tour bus: I loved this bus that this guy kind of made himself. His name was Axel, and he drove it. I liked it because it was his own thing. It was not tacky like most tour buses are. It was very minimalist—no whistles and bells, but the windows opened. Ever since then I’ve wanted a bus that had windows that opened, and we’ve never had one. It messes with the aerodynamics or something.

First hit song: “Closer To Fine”—our only hit song. As Emily always says, “Those were heady times.” We had a video, and everything was on our side. It was nice. We were playing with R.E.M. and recording in L.A. and doing every TV show, and we were popular in a mainstream kind of way. So it was surprising. You wouldn’t think this, but we’re not that ambitious. We really enjoyed that, but we enjoy the one-day-at-a-time thing. I think for me, it happened, and then I was kind of like, what’s next, on a creative level? I think Emily has a different opinion because she wrote that song, and it’s very different as a songwriter for a song to become really popular. It probably feels great.

First major collaboration: R.E.M. They played on a couple songs on our first record after we got signed, and we toured with them. It was inspiring, artistically, because as a band we loved loved loved R.E.M. And they were really famous, so I think they took us under their wing, and it was a big deal. Career-wise, that was it. That’s what launched us.

First political cause: The most important thing we do is a group that we helped start called Honor the Earth, and we fund native-led organizations that are doing environmental work, and work in cultural sustainability. We just try to garner support for them in the non-Indian community and raise money to give grants. That’s been going on since the early ’90s. We work a lot on energy policy, within the system in D.C., and we work outside of the system mostly. That’s our most important work.