On the duo’s latest album, Look Long, they continue to wrestle with the angels and demons that attend those raised in the religious South, with the benefit of age, experience, and a solid following of adoring and supportive fans. “Can a soul ever get it right?” the two singers harmonize, “Can any human being ever reach that highest light? Except for Galileo, God rest his soul/King of night vision, king of insight.” Saliers’ interest in Galileo’s quarrel with the Church harmonized with the journey many of us have had through the culture wars, organized religion’s anti-scientific beliefs, and anachronistically conservative political allegiances. The song recalls the father of observational astronomy, who was called a heretic by the Church when he confirmed the Copernican view that, primitive Biblical perspectives notwithstanding, the Sun – and not the earth – is the center of the solar system. They played “Get Out the Map,” “Go,” and “Shame On You,” but as anticipated, closed out the night with “Galileo,” from their 1992 album Rites of Passage. It was a lovely night, where Saliers and Ray-supported by violinist Lyris Hung and joined late in the show on harmonies by Becky Warren-mixed songs from the promised, Look Long, with an expected list of fan favorites. With the promise of a new album on the horizon, they came to play a show at the Victoria Theater (Dayton, OH) in early March, just prior to the COVID-19 shut-down. Thirty-one years and more than a dozen albums later, the Girls are still at it. On the Southern rock-leaning “Kid Fears,” the duo suggested that we “Replace the rent with the stars above/Replace the need with love.” And when Amy Ray, who sings the lower alto parts and tends to write the group’s rockier material (first time I saw them, she wore a Replacements t-shirt,) was looking for a metaphor for a love connection that’s good for the long haul she turned to the biblical “Land of Canaan.” Her musical partner Emily Saliers-the soprano singer who also plays most of the lead guitar parts to Ray’s sturdy rhythms-confessed her search for spiritual answers in the album’s biggest hit, “Closer to Fine.” She describes seeking insight in philosophy classes, from all manner of religious authorities, and even a night of drinking, only to reach a point where she was finally willing to live with the questions, saying “the less I seek my source for some definitive, the closer I am to fine.” That’s right, the Indigo Girls sang “neo-folk” songs that captured hearts and minds on college campuses and beyond by taking on the childhood insecurities we all share. Indigo Girls went on to capture the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album that year. Bonnie Raitt had a hit on the radio with John Hiatt’s song asking if we were ready for a “Thing Called Love,” Bob Dylan was recording with Daniel Lanois, singing “Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf… for all of us who are left…for the chosen few,” and even Madonna was mixing sacred symbols with her usual sexual references in “Like a Prayer.” Meanwhile, a mostly acoustic duo coming out of Georgia was taking college radio by storm with its self-titled major-label debut album. In 1989, a music fan looking for signs of spiritual light and life in the real world likely found plenty of reasons to be encouraged.
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