lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: any single solitary heart

1990-04-25: indigo girls: touchy-feely folk, and fans, newsday

austin singer kris mckay opened the show with a short, considerably more earthy set. she opened with "one moment to another" from her just-released debut album "what love endures." the song shows mckay at her best: passionate, yet focused. musically, mckay's got a wide and easy range, from straightforward texas ballads like david halley's "if ever you need me" to the country soul of "the bigger the love" to the quiet torchiness of billie holiday's "don't explain." mckay was undermined by unbalanced sound monday night - drums, bass keyboard overbearing, vocals and guitar too low. yet she got her ideas across.

for the audience, though, the highlight came when the indigo girls joined mckay on "any single solitary heart," a song john hiatt co-wrote that seems like a natural for country radio. the applause the beacon crowd gave to this guest shot by saliers and ray was like what you'd hear at madison square garden if billy joel and stevie wonder came out to jam with elton john.

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1990-04-30: indigo girls mix optimism with spirituality, the boston globe

kris mckay, who just released her debut lp, "what love endures," turned in a fine opener, mixing folk, pop and earthy blues. ray and saliers leant a harmonizing hand on "any single solitary heart." it served as an implicit vote of confidence, similar to what r.e.m.'s michael stipe did when the indigo girls were r.e.m.'s unknown opening act. worthy gesture.

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1990-05-01: college crowd greets indigo girls with deafening roar of approval, the montreal gazette

when indigo girls amy ray and emily saliers joined mckay for a beautiful version of john hiatt's any single solitary heart, the place went nuts. so it was no surprise at all that the start of the indigo girls' own set was greeted by hysterical screams and a deafening roar of approval.

it didn't stop there, either. ray and saliers had a hard time getting a word in edgewise between songs because of the enthusiastic shouting and cheering from the bandstands.

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1990-07-02: kris mckay, the indianapolis star

but once the second side starts, it's pure sincerity and twang. her version of hub moore's fool that i am may be dense in instrumentation, but it sets up a starker, piano bar sound with the following tune, the billie holiday standard don't explain. guest artists indigo girls add depth to the cover of john hiatt's any single solitary heart. mckay's next album should forget attempts to introduce her range and head straight for the heart of her voice.