lifeblood: listlogs: 2005v08n118-news

ig-news-digest        monday, october 10 2005        volume 08 : number 118

today's subjects:
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  [ig-news] lexington herald-leader amy article  [sherlyn koo <sherlyn@pixel]

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date: mon, 10 oct 2005 07:43:52 +1000
from: sherlyn koo <sherlyn@pixelopolis.com>
subject: [ig-news] lexington herald-leader amy article

hey folks,

here's an amy article from the lexington herald-leader.  you can read
it online at:
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/entertainment/music/12829682.htm

- -sherlyn

- ---begin forwarded article---
posted on sun, oct. 09, 2005  

amy ray: solo and so ready to rock

by walter tunis
contributing music writer

viewing the fall of 2005 as a "starting over" period for amy ray might
seem a bit ridiculous.

after all, the georgia-born songsmith and activist has spent much of
the past two decades establishing herself as half of the contemporary
folk duo indigo girls. as such, she has regularly played to sold-out
concert halls around the globe, including a packed kentucky theatre as
recently as last month.

but when ray returns to town wednesday to play the dame, a musical
identity still in its infancy will be in the spotlight. unlike the
warmer acoustic sing-alongs that dominated the september performance,
ray will plug in, crank up the amps and rock out with a more punkish
pack called the volunteers.

a new career path for a proven pop voice? in some ways. but ray,
though acknowledging the challenge in getting a devout audience to
accept an unfamiliar sound, prefers to promote her non-indigo music as
another shade of the same musical voice.

"it is daunting to go back and play in bars again, but i rather like
that," ray said in a recent phone interview. "it's important to be in
these sweaty clubs playing really close to people and being in this
independent world where i feel everything has a lot of integrity.
there, i'm my own guitar tech, loader, roadie -- everything, really.
so when i go back and play with indigo girls again, i feel this sense
of immense gratitude for everybody working with us."

what has ray back on the road this fall after a monthlong trek with
indigo girls is a solo record called prom. the record explores
friendships and alliances established in youth -- specifically, high
school -- with the "rural white south" ray grew up in as a backdrop.
it's not her first record outside of the indigos. that came in 2001
with her solo debut, stag. but this time, ray admitted, the pressure
is on to form a fan base of her own.

"when i came out with stag, it was a brand-new thing for me to do a
solo record. it was a lot easier to get accepted and have people
interested in it. it's more of a challenge on your second project
because people are like, 'oh, we know you do solo stuff. it's no big
deal.' now, i've truly got to win an audience. and that audience is
different than the one we established with indigo girls because a lot
of indigo fans don't necessarily get into my solo stuff. some do and
some don't.

"so it's tough to realize, 'wow, i'm 40 years old and starting over
with something i really want to do.' i mean, the solo music isn't just
something on the side. it's a main project for me. i'm propelled by
it. i want to keep making solo records. but my solo career has to
support itself to a certain degree."

while several indigo girls albums kick up an electric fuss, they
maintain a folk sensibility when compared to such prom rockers as give
in, blender, driver education and sober girl. but this fall, ray's
dual career is converging in a curious way. with the release last
spring of rarities, ray and indigo girls partner emily saliers have
completed all contractual obligations in their long-running
association with sony music. in other words, they very well could face
a future in the indie world ray already inhabits as a solo artist.

"there's a lot of flux at the moment," ray said. "now that emily and i
are done with our record deal, we're going to start something new. we
don't know what, exactly. but it's like starting over in a sense, too.
but that's good because we will really have to work to challenge
ourselves, maintain integrity and not rest on our laurels. so i look
at everything -- and emily does too when she's involved with her
projects -- as something that adds to the whole.

"what i do by myself ultimately helps indigo girls and vice versa. it
reveals more of the branches of who we are."

if you go
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

amy ray and the volunteers
when: 8 p.m. wed.
where: the dame, 156 w. main st.
tickets: $12.
call: (859) 226-9005.

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end of ig-news-digest v8 #118
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