lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: losing touch

1997-06-09: indigo girls: frequently asked questions, listserv@netspace.org e-mail list:

emily saliers was born in new haven, connecticut on july 22nd, 1963. the following year, her future musical partner amy ray was born in atlanta, on april 12th, 1964. when emily was in sixth grade, her family moved to decatur, georgia. emily was enrolled in laurel ridge elementary school where amy was attending fifth grade. when amy and emily were both in high school, they began playing together under the names "saliers and ray" and "the b-band"; their first rehearsals were for a school talent show. later the two progressed to playing open mike nights at local bars, despite being underage. in 1981, the b-band recorded a tape called "tuesday's children" in amy's basement. the tape consisted mostly of cover songs, with an additional original song from each of them. in 1982 amy recorded "color me grey", a solo tape consisting of entirely original material.

when emily graduated from high school she enrolled at tulane university in new orleans, majoring in english. amy moved to nashville a year later to study english and religion at vanderbilt university. dissatisfied with life away at school, both emily and amy moved back to atlanta to attend emory university in 1984, and the two resumed playing together regularly. in 1985 they adopted the name "indigo girls"; amy picked the word "indigo" out of the dictionary because she thought it sounded "cool". that same year, indigo girls made their recording debut with an independently released 7" single "crazy game"/"everybody's waiting (for someone to come home)" and a mostly-live cassette called "blue food". at around the same time, amy released an updated version of "color me grey", including an early version of her song "nashville".

2001-08-03: indigo girls - talent seen once in a blue moon, the easton express-times:

when both were in high school, they started playing music together in preparation for a school talent show, and were soon performing at open-mike nights at local bars, calling themselves either saliers and ray or the b-band.

by 1981, ray and saliers had completed their first basement tape (literally - it was recorded in ray's basement) called "tuesday's children," a collection of cover songs augmented with two original tunes.

ray continued her songwriting and, the following year, she recorded a solo tape of her own material called "color me grey."

after high school, saliers became an english major at tulane university, and the next year, ray headed off to nashville, tenn., to study english and religion at vanderbilt university. but being away from home didn't sit too well with either, and by 1984 both were back in atlanta as students at emory university.

in 1985, again performing together on a regular basis, they decided to go by the name indigo girls. in one of the time-honored traditions of rock, the name held no real significance - ray chose "indigo" from the dictionary because the word sounded cool.

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2004-05-17: singer of the week, (unknown):

from grey to indigo blue

they quickly moved up the ranks, playing at open mike nights in local bars. in 1981, they recorded their first tape, tuesday's children in amy ray's basement, followed by a 1982 recording of "color me grey," a solo effort by ray.

the duo's name, "indigo girls," was not adopted until 1985 (ray had seen the word "indigo" in a dictionary and thought it was catchy). with the release of their first single, "crazy game/everybody's waiting for someone to come home (a b-side)," the music industry had yet to catch on.

in 1987, the indigo girls independently released their first album, strange fire (it was rereleased in 1989 under the epic label). though they were told that they would never secure a deal because their songs were apparently too "immature," their music eventually led to a record deal with epic records in 1988.