Ep. 118 - EMILY SALIERS of Indigo Girls ("Closer to Fine")

Best known as one half of the legendary folk rock duo Indigo Girls,  Grammy award winner Emily Saliers joins us to discuss her remarkable career.  EPISODE DETAILS: PART ONE Scott and Paul announce the winner of the signed copy of Layng Martine's memoir, Permission to Fly, and give an update on their call for demos recorded at Pearl Snap Studios. PART TWO - 3:06 mark The guys talk about how their parents monitored their music when they were kids, then get into a discussion about how Indigo Girls impacted their musical sensibilities.  PART THREE - 9:02 mark Paul and Scott connect with Emily via phone for a wide-ranging conversation that covers the first album she ever bought; how the importance of regionalism has changed in the music industry; why she would change the opening line of her best-known song if she were writing it today; the criticism that most plagued Indigo Girls when they were starting out; how she tries to stretch herself by writing material that might not come as naturally; why she's always dreamed of having a country artist cover one of her songs; her fierce love of hip hop; and why there's no such thing as secular music. ABOUT EMILY SALIERS Singer-songwriter Emily Saliers is best known as one half of  Indigo Girls, which NPR called “one of the finest folk duos of all time.” The Georgia-raised musical icon is the sole writer of some of the group’s best-known titles, including “Closer to Fine,” “Hammer and a Nail,” “Galileo,” “Least Complicated,” “Power of Two,” “Get Out the Map,” and others. With fifteen studio albums to their credit, Indigo Girls are Grammy award winners and winners of the Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. They’ve earned seven gold, four platinum, and one double platinum award for album sales and have collaborated with REM, Joan Baez, Brandi Carlile, P!nk, and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello.   In addition to her work with Indigo Girls, Saliers and her father, a retired theology professor, co-wrote the book A Song to Sing, a Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice. In recent years she released her debut solo album, Murmuration Nation, and has remained an impassioned activist and advocate for causes close to her heart.