You can only walk past the same ninety-nine cent CD so many times before you finally, out of desperation to pick something up, grab it. That's how I ultimately ended up with not only the 1987 debut of Indigo Girls, but their second, and self-titled (1989) final album of the decade. I don't know any songs from the girl duo, nor did I honestly suspect I was going to like any when it was all said and done, but here we are.
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers met as young-ins back in Georgia, while attending Laurel Ridge Elementary School. Being in different grades, it wouldn't be until high school that they got better acquainted, and formed the band, B-Girls, before changing the name to Sailers And Ray. Upon graduating, again, a year apart, the two went to different colleges, but soon found themselves homesick. Returning home, they would both attend Emory University.
By 1985, they began performing again, adopting the name, Indigo Girls. At first, they self-published, which included their single, Crazy Game, with the B-side, Everybody's Waiting (for Someone to Come Home). This was followed by a six-track extended play in 1987. This was followed by Strange Fire, their first full studio album.
Around this time, female led folk acts were garnering attention on airwaves, typically college radio stations, but quickly transitioning to mainstream. Acts such as 10,000 Maniacs, Tracy Chapman, and Suzanne Vega, and prompted Epic Records to not only take a chance on the genre but found them actively seeking out new talent. Thus, the Indigo Girls were signed. Upon the release of their self-titled album in 1988, which became quite successful by 1989, Epic re-released their '87 album, but not before re-arranging the order, removing two tracks, and adding a cover of the Youngblood hit, Get Together. Overall, the album would not perform as well as their '89 record, but still reached a gold sales certification, while peaking at 159 on the Billboard 200.
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With the opening strum of the acoustic guitar, I was already in the mindset that this album wasn't going to be for me. I'm not what one would call a connoisseur of folk, nor country music.
As a whole, the album stays well rooted in that aspect, using minimal instruments to craft each song. Don't expect to hear drums, bass guitars, or synthesizers. Rather, the girls keep it simple, acoustic guitars, and occasionally harmonicas. It's comparable to the earliest Bob Dylan stuff, pre-Highway 61 Revisited. Great if you like that kind of music, rather boring and bland if you don't. Obviously, I fall into the latter.
While I let it play, by track five I pretty much reached my limit, and ended up skipping past tracks to see if anything intrigued my ears. As expected, it did not.
Though tomorrow I'll jump into their 1989 self-titled release, I don't suspect it's going to be any type of opus for me. I'll give it a chance, but...well, we'll see. That's all I can say.
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