* * * * * * *


Correspondence: 2009-06-17: Note From Amy

I am backstage at The Calvin Theater in Northampton. I had a great day, took a long bike ride and ate Thai food. Emily and I are really digging playing the new songs on this tour. I put together another little clip of work in progress. Here we are arranging a song of Emily's called "Love of Our Lives." Mitchell is directing us as we play through the song. This one took a while to get down, but now we open the shows with it. Enjoy!

AR
6.17.09


(13 MB, QuickTime Format)

 

Correspondence: 2009-05-29: Note From Amy

It’s late; I got sidetracked by the spelling bee on TV. Whew that was tense, but very fulfilling.
Now I fully understand the limitations of my spelling knowledge, not to mention word derivation, those kids are unbelievable. I’m quickly putting this together, so there can be something new floating out there from the annals of my recording studio documentation. But firs
t…

The May tour was super! The food drive is gaining momentum and at this point we have collected nearly 2 Tons of food plus financial donations to distribute an additional 28 tons more. You are all really doing your part.

We enjoyed the music and company of some excellent opening acts - Matt Morris, Anais Mitchell, and Terri Hendrix with Lloyd Maines.

Here's a little video of Salty South with Lloyd on Dobro, and Terri on Harp and vocals.


(7 MB, QuickTime Format)

Okay, here's the next installment in our series of Poseidon And The Bitter Bug studio sessions. In this arrangement session, we are working on a song by Emiily - "I'll Change."


(17 MB, QuickTime Format)

Here is what we find: Mitchell Froom expounding upon his vision for the song; Amy taking as many written notes as she can; Clare playing some stunningly gorgeous bass in a very cool way; and Emily singing and playing her way through the song with songbird clarity. You might notice that some of the harmonies did not end up on the CD; they were too busy. You also might notice that we put an instrumental break in the acoustic version of this song, which featured Allison Brown on guitar. Those are things we haven't sorted out at this early stage, but it's pretty clear where we're headed.

More next week :)

Amy

 

Correspondence: 2009-05-18: Note From Amy & Emily


Hey everyone,

New Orleans is still in a rebuilding and recovery process from the hurricanes and floods of 2005. We'll be passing through there in a few days and wanted to do something special to give back to this amazing city and cultural landmark. One of our close allies, Sweet Home New Orleans (SHNO), has done some brilliant work in returning musicians to New Orleans to continue living and playing music in the city they call home.

SHNO is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the individuals and organizations that will perpetuate New Orleans' unique musical and cultural traditions. They help New Orleans musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, and Social Aid & Pleasure Club members get on their feet, get to work and revitalize the community and cultural economy of New Orleans. Over the last four years, SHNO has provided over $2.4 million in direct financial assistance to more than 2,300 members of the city's music community.

At our Tipitina's show on Saturday May 23, we'll be hosting a silent auction with the highest bidder getting to sing "Closer to Fine" with us on-stage that night. You'll also get to take home a recording of the song's performance. If you'd like, you can go in on the bid with up to three of your friends.

At the show, look for the silent auction table where you can make a bid on the prize and learn more about Sweet Home New Orleans. We will accept cash or credit card for the highest bid. The auction will close at 11pm.

Thanks ya'll. We look forward to seeing you at Tip's!

Amy & Emily

 

Correspondence: 2009-05-12: Note From Amy

Hello,

I am currently in San Francisco. I just had an incredibly healthy and tasty meal at Gratitude-yummy!

This is the first installment in a series of scenes from the rehearsal, arrangement, and recording sessions for the making of Poseidon And The Bitter Bug. The video camera was passed around from tripod to hand to hand. Everyone pitched in to document a bit here and there. I will be posting in the order in which it was shot. I haven’t even seen all the tapes, so I will be discovering just what we have as I go.

My iMovie skills have a slow learning curve, but I think these videos in their raw form will shed some light on our album making process.

To set this up a bit, at this point, Emily and I have spent a month alone arranging the songs, and then a week with Mitchell Froom tweaking our duo arrangements and experimenting with keyboard parts. The videos begin during the process of fine tuning our arrangements even more and bringing our bass player, Clare Kenny into the musical scene. (All apologies to Clare for starting our filming process while she’s in the hot seat.) Matt Chamberlain will be joining us on drums when we hit the recording studio.

We had worked on the song “Digging For Your Dream” the day before this series starts, but that tape got corrupted….Hopefully, we will see some footage later of where that song ended up.

In this first scene, Emily, Mitchell, Clare, and I are working on “Sugar Tongue.” feeling the fire in a big way.


(12 MB, QuickTime Format)

 

Correspondence: 2009-05-05: Note From Amy

I have heard and seen so much incredible music these past few months. Sometimes, it dwarfs my own stage experience, because I often find I'm more of a fan than a musician. Not to be self-deprecating at all, I am just feeling the fire in a big way.

Here is a list of shows I have seen that have won me over to the bright side:

Detroit7 - You have to YouTube them! Japanese garage rock at it's best.

Brandi Carlile - She's been doing an acoustic tour with the twins in small rooms, previewing some of her new songs. What a treat. They prove to be perfectly magical in the small spaces and the intimacy lets you experience the rock vibes in a big way. The new record is coming soon and it's going to be her best yet.

Bruce Springsteen - Bruce is one of the only bands I want to see at an arena. He plays it like a bar and no matter what song he chooses, the show never lacks for me. He is ever present, soulful, fun, deep and a man of the community.

Michelle Malone - She is in rare form these days. Her guitar rises above the rest and her voice is whatever she wants it to be. MM has a new CD out called Debris, it's getting rave reviews. Once again she proves she can rock like no other. I was blown away by her most recent show.

Ani DiFranco - We just played a show with her in Madison, WI - the 100th Anniversary Party/Benefit for The Progressive Magazine. I haven't seen her in a while and I have to say, I was stunned at the power of her performance. I regretted how long it had been because this is the kind of energy that can keep your life humming along.

Screaming Females - Well I didn't actually see them, but I YouTubed them on Emily's recommendation and wow, talk about guitar players, the woman fronting this band is killer. I ordered the CD the old school way, from Don Giovanni Records, and you probably should too.

There's so much good music out there right now, that I was glancing at someone's mix CD and didn't recognize a single band.... that was exciting, always more to discover.


Bruce @ Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA. My view.


Practicing Closer to Fine at The Progressive 100th Anniversary Party/Benefit with
Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams, Melissa Ferrick, Hamell on Trial, Catie Curtis, Peter Mulvey

(4 MB, QuickTime Format)

The April tour was a mixed bag of learning new songs and getting our sea legs back. I feel good about it now. I think we're getting it down. It feels so amazing to be playing new music and already have the audience singing along. (Thanks for that!) It's only gonna get better. Julie Wolf is playing keys with us and proving to be a one-woman band. Her skills are down right amazing.

As some of you know, with the help of Rock for a Remedy and our audiences, we have been collecting food for community food banks as we tour. At this point, over 1 ton of food has been collected and this food has been donated to local food banks in each community we have visited. In addition, our audiences have made financial donations that will allow these same food banks to distribute another 22,000 (11 tons) of food to those in need.

We have also collected over 500 pounds of pet food on the April tour. A big thank you is owed to the national Humane Society of the United States. They worked diligently to connect us with local animal shelters and rescue organizations in each of the cities we visited. They specifically paired us with organizations that have established pet food banks and are already serving those in need.

We'll be continuing this food drive through the summer. We'll be taking food donations in every city and pet donations in most of them, so let your friends know to check out the website about the current campaign.

Thank you for making such a big difference in these hard times.

While I was on tour, I did get a chance to visit the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and see where MLK Jr. was assassinated. I can't believe I had never made this visit. I felt the power there, but in a very humble way. The site of the museum is connected to the motor lodge where MLK Jr. stayed and spoke his last words off of a balcony. It's such a plain little motel, it made me realize what a man of the people he truly was. That's a strange way for it to occur to me, but I stay in a lot of hotels, a lot nicer than that one, and I guess it made me feel pretty small and awestruck.

Okay, I think that's about it. Stay tuned. I am working on editing all the footage we took while rehearsing and recording Poseidon and the Bitter Bug. It's coming your way very soon.

Amy Ray
05.05.09

P.S. And here's Gracie saying "good night."

 

Correspondence: 2009-04-03: Note From Amy

4-3-09 Delta Flight 125

I am heading out to California for the first gig of our new tour season. Our new record has had its first week of the world and everything feels in order. IG’s are playing at the Dinah Shore Golf Tournament, a first for us. We’re taking advantage of an early arrival and hunkering down in a dressing room for the day to practice our new material with Julie Wolf. Julie will be on board for the majority of our tour season on keys and accordion. This is especially exciting since out new record has so many important keyboard parts.

Emily and I have just finished a crazy run of promo shows and a trip out to Singapore to play The Mosaic Music festival. Singapore was a totally new experience, our very first Indigo Girls’ gig in Asia. I started the trip in grand fashion. As luck would have it, I ended up on a luxury airliner with all business class seats. Actually they were more like cubicles. I could have been happy flying twice as long as the 18-hour journey just to take advantage of the quiet time and space. hmmmm ahhhhh…and the service. I think I am officially spoiled by Singapore Airlines.


Me on the flight to Singapore

I tried my best to avoid the insane jet lag and made plans to do something as soon as I arrived. Our sound engineer-Brian, guitar tech-Sullie, and I traveled out to the Singapore Zoo. Animals seemed like a good destination for my tired brain. I used to hate zoos, but it seems like my obsession with seeing certain animals outweighed the nagging sadness of seeing them in lock up. This was one of the new “natural environment humane zoos.” I figure no matter how natural the environment, it’s still a cage; the animals are martyring themselves for the cause of educating humans to be more in tune with species endangerment and extinction. It turned out to be a really fun day with some amazing animals. I really liked seeing different monkeys just hanging out in the trees.

While winding up our zoo visit, we got hit by an afternoon, monsoon-like rainstorm, but Sullie worked a little magic and got us a taxi back to our hotel. These afternoon showers became a staple of our very tropical stay in Singapore.

Our trip to the Singapore Zoo


Amy and Brian at the Singapore Zoo


Sullie at the Singapore Zoo


Singapore Zoo


Singapore Zoo


Singapore Zoo


Singapore Zoo


Singapore Zoo

Our hotel was located in the middle of the hugest shopping malls I ever seen. Singapore is famous for being a trade center and they really don’t mess around. I think from the earliest of times (like the 1500’s), its location in the midst of the trade winds created a situation where ships had no choice but to stay a while and it became global trade center. The 100’s of shopping malls, and I am not exaggerating here, seem to be an extension of that. The population is hugely diverse and you can hear a good many languages on any walk through town. We had a great time doing press because all the interviewers were clever and had a good sense of humor. It was strange but very pleasing how consistent that was.


We played a live radio show hosted by an acoustic duo called Jack and Rae.


Jack and Rae Radio Show


Jack and Rae Radio Show


We got to be on National Singapore TV


Singapore TV
(5 MB, QuickTime Format)

I could write a book (well, I actually couldn’t or I would) about the complexities of culture and politics in Singapore. We ran through all the jokes about getting arrested for everything from chewing gum to being queer, but the reality is that the people were incredibly gracious and open. Even though homophobia is pretty much a legislated situation, we did play a music festival, as openly queer musicians, which I can only imagine is partially funded by the government. The gay press is very underground, and restricted to podcast and web sites, which isn’t so bad considering that’s where most of us get our news these days. We were interviewed by a fascinating, openly gay poet and play write, Ng Yi-Sheng. I wish I had a good movie of that one, but it didn’t turn out. It was a fun interview, mainly because we asked a lot of questions and learned a whole lot about Singapore. I got a laugh out of one of our hostesses as she swooned over “The L Word,” which apparently is pirated off the web. Even though she wasn’t gay herself, she said it brought out her lesbian tendencies…hmmm…very sweet. She turned three shades of red and giggled a lot when talking about Shane. We also got a lot of lessons about the political and economic structure as well. How lucky we are to get to go places like this and ask so many questions.

We had no concept of how many people would come to the show or if we had any fans in the area. We were actually blown away by the number of people that showed up. The promoter for the festival did a really amazing job of getting the word out and arranging TV, press, and radio. The icing on the cake was that the audience totally sang along to at least half of the songs. It felt crazy and surprising. We did an autograph session after the show and discovered that a whole contingent of folks had flown over from Manila to see the show. That made my night. Of course, now Asia does not seem so out of reach and we are excited to try more cities. I can only be thankful that our career still holds so many surprises.

We had a whole day to hang out before our flight left back to the US. I trekked over to Little India where I was in food heaven. It was the coolest part of town, a world unto itself. I gorged myself on lunch at an Indian restaurant where the whole menu was vegetarian – wow was it good, totally satisfying.


Little India, Singapore

We weren’t back in the states for a day before we left for Austin, TX to play at the South By Southwest Music festival. I was completely spacey from the travel. The first of three shows we played, I made a ton of mistakes-all apologies to whoever was there. I just couldn’t remember chords and words for the life of me. It got better with each show. We had a surprise invite to do the Perez Hilton show. He was super nice to us. Our last show was at Stubb’s-our normal haunt in Austin. I haven’t been to SXSW in ages and I used to go every year and hear a bunch of bands and discover new music. This year, even though I felt pretty delirious, I went out for shows on both nights we were there. My favorite two shows were Daniel Johnston and a band from Tokyo called Detroit7. This trio of two women and a guy played a bad-ass garage rock set as part of Japan Night- a night that I always try to catch because it never fails to blow me away. I danced like crazy and sweated, and had what I can only describe as a religious experience. Not unusual for me, where music is concerned. I bought the T-shirt and the CD!


The IG's meet Perez Hilton


Indigo Girls on Perez


This is what my brain felt like

See ya out there on the road. I know times are tough, so we appreciate you buying the tickets and showing your support for live music :)

xoAmy

 

Correspondence: 2009-03-24: Note From Emily and Amy

Dear Friends,

We all know that the economy is hurting badly. Job losses, home foreclosures, and pay cuts are just a few of the crises Americans are facing. But did you know that 1 in 8 Americans are going hungry? 35 million Americans are unable to put food on their tables. Last year, the demand for food from food banks rose 30%. There is something we can do to help.

During our 2009 Spring and Summer tours, Indigo Girls will be partnering with Rock for a Remedy to help our neighbors who are hungry. We are asking you to join us in this effort. Rock for a Remedy (RFAR) is a grass-roots non-profit organization bringing together socially conscious musicians and their civic-minded fans via food drives all across North America. All donations are given to area food banks in local communities.

What can you do? Please bring food to your Indigo Girl’s concert! Bring canned or boxed non-perishable foods. These will be donated to a food bank in your community. If you bring 4 or more food items, you will be entered to win a signed copy of our new cd, ‘Poseidon and the Bitter Bug’ and other memorabilia. The only shows where we won’t be collecting food are April 4th in Palm Springs and April 30th in Wisconsin. For all other shows, we welcome your generous donations.

In addition, we will be working with animal rescue groups and pet food banks to organize the collection of pet food at concerts. Declining household incomes and foreclosures have meant that some pets cannot be fed. We believe everyone’s bowl should be full! Please check our website for updates on pet food donation concert nights.

We can come together to ease the burdens of those hit by hard times. Bring your voices and your gift of food to the concert and we will rock for a remedy.

With Big Thanks,

Emily and Amy

For more information, www.indigogirls.com or www.rockforaremedy.org.

 

Correspondence: 2009-03-17: Blog From Emily

I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since we made ‘Poseidon and the Bitter Bug’. Matt Chamberlain, our drummer for ‘Poseidon…’ only had four days available (he is one of the most in-demand drummers in the world), so we cut 10 band songs in four days. I found the pace to be exhilarating and the decision making process to be unencumbered by the luxury of time. We had to go with our gut on performances. Sometimes in the studio, the more you belabor things, the less energized they become. So I really feel that the particular pace of making this record was helped by our limited budget and schedule. Working with Mitchell Froom is a fantastic experience, and he played all over this record (thankfully!) and elevated the songs to a new level.

I began the year with horrific writer’s block. I actually had to ask Amy and Russell (our manager) to postpone making the cd so that I could write some songs! I always get a bit of writer’s block and trust that songs will come, but this particular block felt debilitating. When the songs finally came, they emerged deeply personal and colored by all the angst of midlife ponderings: why is everyone breaking up? Why is George Bush our president? Why are we at war with Iraq? What have I done with my life? You know, just the basics. The first song I wrote was ‘I’ll Change’ which I was immediately happy with, but I always benefit from the opinion of my friends and cohorts. When Russell first heard it and liked it, I felt validated and encouraged to go on. So, I went to the beach and shut myself in a room and pounded away at songwriting. It’s certainly the reason for the nautical references in some of the songs, particularly ‘Fleet of Hope’ and ‘Love of Our Lives’. I forget that I actually had an extra song written that I decided we shouldn’t learn, but I played it the other day and kind of liked it. Maybe a bonus track sometime? It’s called ‘The History of the World’ and is based on a guy I met on an airplane who had fabulous stories to tell about the inner workings of D.C.

When Amy and I started learning the songs together, we got Mitchell in on the loop and he ended up coming to Atlanta early to tighten up the arrangements. He is a genius arranger. For those of you who are writers, it’s akin to having a really good editor. I remember when I wrote the book with my Dad how amazed I was at what our editor, Dorothy Bass, could do with passages and arrangements that needed serious tweaking.

So, Mitchell is a master song tweaker. It’s surprising how much of a difference one chord change can make in a song.

One of the highlights of making the cd was having Alison Brown in to play. She played a solo on the acoustic version of “I’ll Change’ that is heartbreakingly beautiful. I play it over and over again. She also played on Amy’s “Salty South’ (acoustic record). Also great to have Missy Higgins come and sing on “Digging for Your Dream’ and a version of “True Romantic’. Mitchell produced her latest record, and she was in town for a concert, so we roped her in. We also ended up doing a bunch of dates with her during the 2008 touring season. “Where I Stood’ is one of my favorite songs of the year. It’s always inspiring to come across young artists who are tearing it up. Brandi Carlile reigns supreme in this arena.

So, here we are, all independent again. I love it. The cd comes out March 24th, and I shake my head in disbelief at this remarkable path that Amy and I have traveled over all of these years. I get a little more tired now from traveling than I used to, but I still love the music experience fiercely. And, speaking of music experience, we just came off the Cayamo cruise and had a blast, playing and mingling with all sorts of musicians: Brandi, Kathleen Edwards, Shawn Mullins, David Ryan Harris, Mindy Smith, Vienna Tang. Also caught a show by Shawn Colvin. We look forward to playing this cruise again. Once I got over my sea sickness, every memory was a fond one.

I spent a month in southeast Asia in January. I traveled to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The presence of the history of war was around every corner, but I never once sensed any antagonism over the fact that I was American. The war history museums are hard to take, as was the “Hanoi Hilton’ prison that still houses John McCain’s flight suit. I read a book about the Pol Pot regime that almost did me in. But I yearn to go back to that part of the world as soon as I can. Singapore is next!

I had a chance to catch up on some movies, notably ‘The Wrestler’, ‘Milk’, ‘The Reader’, and “Slumdog Millionaire’ which was, by far, my favorite. Sean Penn was stunning in ‘Milk’ and I was definitely pulling for Kate Winslet, even though I hadn’t had a chance to see ‘Doubt’ and Meryl Streep blows my mind. It’s been nice to have a slew of good movies to see.

I read a wonderful book, ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’. Absolutely fantastic. I am currently on a Philip Roth kick. Dark, dark, dark.

The year ahead holds many adventures. We are coming to a town near you and, for your support and listening ear, I am sincerely grateful. We’ve got a new president!!!!! Let’s make it a productive year of positive change, for us and for the whole world.

xemily

 

 
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