BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
It’s been four years since the Indigo Girls released a new album.
In the interim, they’ve toured consistently, filling theaters and moderate-sized sheds.
They’ve maintained a devout fan base and remained steadfast in their public support of environmental causes and gay rights.
They also haven’t had anything resembling widespread radio play since the late ’90s.
And yet, said Emily Saliers with a laugh, “Here we are all these years later.”
Saliers, the honeyed voice to musical partner Amy Ray’s tang, is calling from her home in Atlanta, where she contentedly spent the prior 90 minutes watching episodes of “Dora the Explorer” with her 2 ½-year-old daughter, Cleo.
In 2013, Saliers and longtime girlfriend Tristin Chipman married, and while she admits that it’s hard to be away from home with a toddler in her life — Ray is in a similar position as she and partner Carrie Schrader have a 19-month-old daughter, Ozilline Graydon — motherhood “is the best thing ever.”
But, work calls, especially since the Indigo Girls have a new album to promote, the deeply moving, musically spry “One Lost Day,” their 14th studio record. It was released in early June.
Fans can expect to hear many of the new songs when Saliers and Ray perform at Chastain Park Amphitheatre on Friday with a full band (revered alt-country duo Shovels & Rope open).
“Chastain is really special,” Saliers said. “It was always a dream (to play there). I used to see a lot of shows there growing up. I know a lot of artists struggle with the crowd there, but we’ve never had a bad crowd. It’s a lovely venue.”
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
The pair launched the tour to support “One Lost Day” last week. Their set contained a healthy dose of songs from the new album, including the single “Happy in the Sorrow Key,” a long-gestating work from Ray, and Saliers’ pensive “If I Don’t Leave Here Now,” which lingered in her songbook for years as a pop tune until “One Lost Day” producer Jordan Brooke Hamlin suggested turning it into a ballad.
“It’s a song about addiction. I know the feeling of never being able to get enough of something,” Saliers said. “I finished it after Philip Seymour Hoffman died. I was really devastated by his death. I thought about how common a death like that could be … when someone is very famous, it hits the news, but then I started thinking that this happens every day with the epidemic of painkiller addiction. The song isn’t about just drug addiction, but anything that devastates your life.”
The title of the new album is taken from the song “Alberta,” and Saliers said she and Ray were fortunate that their art designer suggested it as a contender.
“We really wanted to call the record ‘Field Notes’ because it’s a travelogue record and representative of a journey and a culmination of our life on the road. But every time we came up with what we thought was a great idea, it was already taken!” Saliers said. “But we realized ‘One Lost Day’ feels right. There’s memory and loss on this record. The title resonated.”
Along with the tour that will keep Saliers and Ray on the road through the end of July, Saliers is also progressing with work on her solo record (Ray released one in January 2014). Indigo Girls violinist Lyris Hung will produce the release, which so far has six tracks ready to go. Saliers said the album "is a work in progress" but is aiming for an early 2016 release.
She’s also actively involved in Watershed, the Buckhead restaurant that she co-owns.
Saliers raved about new chef Zeb Stevenson, whom she calls “masterful,” and is also working on a Watershed cookbook with Stevenson’s recipes (she’ll write the foreword and the inside text).
But first, there is the business of spreading the word of “One Lost Day,” particularly since, Saliers said, “We really liked this record.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Indigo Girls
With Shovels & Rope. 8 p.m. June 26. $35.50-$60.50. Chastain Park Amphitheatre, 4469 Stella Drive N.W., Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com.
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