Indigo Girls celebrate new holiday album, long partnership

It’s really about time the Indigo Girls tackled a holiday record.

Given their 25-year career has spawned a dozen studio albums, plus live offerings and the requisite collections of their best-known songs, it’s actually a bit surprising that it took the duo of Emily Saliers and Amy Ray this long to move into “O Holy Night” territory.

But fans should find “Holly Happy Days,” released in October, worth the wait.

“[Amy and I] were simpatico about the direction we wanted [the album] to take,” Saliers said. “I made my list of songs and she made hers and we cross-referenced. We have such a good way of working things out democratically.”

Hanging out in her manager’s Atlanta office last week, the low-key Saliers, clad in beige cargo pants and a green sweatshirt, thoughtfully discussed the making of the album.

Unlike many pop-star seasonal releases, “Holly” concentrates on unconventional choices, such as “In the Bleak Midwinter” -- the favorite hymn of both women's mothers -- Woody Guthrie’s “Happy Joyous Hanukkah” (featuring Janis Ian and Mary Gautier) and Chely Wright’s “It Really Is (a Wonderful Life).”

“We knew we wanted to do some originals and a Hanukkah song, and my dad brought us ‘Peace Child’ and played piano on the track,” Saliers said.

Many of the songs sport a bluegrass feel, in keeping with the Girls’ rootsy ambitions. “I Feel the Christmas Spirit” dashes along with a sprightly banjo backdrop (provided by Alison Brown), while Ray’s “The Wonder Song” is a happy hootenanny (she also penned “Mistletoe” and Saliers contributed the mellifluous “Your Holiday Song”).

The process of choosing tunes and recording them this summer with producer Peter Collins and top-drawer musicians, including Lloyd Maines on dobro and pedal steel guitar and Victor Krauss on bass, was exceptionally rewarding, Saliers said.

“It was such a sweet little studio in Nashville, a real home-feeling studio, and it was so inspiring to work with those players.”

To promote the album, the Indigo Girls scheduled a trio of shows -- in Chicago Tuesday, New York Thursday and here in their hometown at the Tabernacle Dec. 10.

Shawn Mullins, a fellow Atlantan and old pal from their coffeehouse days, and new friend Wright are also part of the concerts.

“We wanted to bring some other people on board who have strong followings and will bring something new and interesting,” Saliers said. “It’s just festive.”

During the concert, Ray and Saliers will perform all of “Holly” as well as other nonholiday faves from their catalog and will partner with Mullins and Wright on some tunes.

Post-holidays, the Indigo Girls already are booked.

Ray is wrapping her fourth solo album, while Saliers, who owns the Decatur Southern-dining restaurant Watershed, is collaborating on songs for an upcoming independent film.

Though the duo will head to Australia in April for a short tour and plan to return to the studio -- likely again in Nashville -- in May for a new Indigo Girls record, it’s their time apart that helps keep their partnership sturdy.

“Because Amy has her solo stuff and I have various other projects, it’s not like all the eggs are in one basket,” Saliers said. “The only thing that would slow us down is that Amy is planning a family, so there would be more time to carve out for home life. But being in the Indigo Girls is still fun, it’s still gratifying. We’re old friends and have a great relationship.”

Saliers is equally content remaining in Decatur, where she’s lived since childhood and met Ray when both were students at Laurel Ridge Elementary School (both also graduated from Emory University in the mid-1980s).

“I like Atlanta for its history of the civil rights movement, its multi-ethnicity and, as a foodie, experiencing the different ethnicities in food,” Saliers said, noting that Ray still lives in Georgia as well, albeit in “the woods.”

“I like Decatur because you can walk places. I’m looking forward to the Beltline. ... It’s a city in progress. I'm fortunate that I can see any part of the world that I want to. It’s just nice to come back to a place that feels like home.”

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