Emily Saliers on Fox benefit concert and Indigo Girls renaissance

Caption

Emily Saliers (left) and Amy Ray of Indigo Girls.

Credit: Courtesy of Indigo Girls

“I could fill this entire interview with memories from the Fox.” 

From playing shows to seeing artists like Janelle Monáe and Greta Van Fleet, Emily Saliers — one-half of the Atlanta-based duo Indigo Girls, along with Amy Ray — has a plethora of memories that she could share about the historic Fox Theatre. And she’s about to be able to add one more. 

On April 28, Indigo Girls will headline the Fox’s Revival Benefit Concert, along with special guests Charlie Starr and Benji Shanks of Blackberry Smoke. The show will be hosted by musician Kevin Kinney of Drivin n Cryin and aims to raise money for the preservation and restoration of theaters across the state, education and community outreach. 

“We’ve played, as you know, a gazillion places, and to be in front of a home crowd for a show that is a regular event and benefits community theaters, small theaters … for me, it’s just a confluence of all good things,” Saliers said. 

The Fox Theatre recently rebranded its philanthropic arm, now called Fox Gives. This year’s concert proceeds will go towards things such as a program called “Fox in a Box,” which teaches elementary school students about the history of the Fox Theatre, as well as grants funding the preservation of Georgia theaters. 

Leigh Burns, director of the Fox Theatre’s Community Partnerships Program, said the Fox wanted this year’s lineup to focus on artists who have come up through those same local theaters. 

“Especially with Indigo Girls, they’ve played all over Georgia, but they’ve played at the Fox so many times and they have a huge following, of course, in Atlanta,” Burns said. “It was just a no-brainer of having them come back and continue here with us at the Fox, but this time in a more special way of funding other theaters where they might have started earlier in their career.” 

Saliers and Ray have been playing together since they were in high school and have known each other even longer, forging a bond that extends beyond music. They’ve been through almost every milestone you could think of together, from relationships to parenthood. 

“We just have so much respect and love for each other,” Saliers said. “Also, we’re really, really different from each other, and those differences are what make us a vibrant group.” 

Over the past few years in particular, it feels like Indigo Girls are experiencing a renaissance of sorts, from the Indigo Girls jukebox musical Glitter & Doom that recently played theaters, to the inclusion of “Closer to Fine” in Greta Gerwig’s behemoth hit Barbie last year. I don’t know what your Barbie viewing experience was like, but from the moment Margot Robbie started belting about her trips to the doctor and the mountain in a candy pink convertible, the already sky-high energy in my theater lifted tremendously. Indigo Girls, and in particular “Closer to Fine,” has that effect on people. Watching that musical power pass on to another generation over the past year has been immensely special to the group. 

“Instead of oh, this is the song that we wrote a million years ago that’s kind of a college anthem, now it’s like — oh, this is the song from Barbie!” Saliers said. “There have been a lot of younger [people] — particularly girls, but not only girls — all kinds of young people, who have been turned onto our music.” 

Saliers said she and Ray get a fair number of solicitations from different projects asking to use their music. Barbie is certainly the most high profile, and a movie that Saliers loved (“I ended up seeing it like, three or four times.”). But Glitter & Doom, albeit a much smaller undertaking from director Tom Gustafson and writer Cory Krueckeberg that played at Out on Film last year, jumped out at both Saliers and Ray as something equally important and special — a love story between two young men scored by the music of two queer women. 

They both loved the script for the film, but Saliers said one thing that really jumped out was the music production from Michelle Chamuel. In the film, the songs are recognizable, but often blend together in unique ways or have a decidedly different tone than the original cut — whether that be a techno influence, or something straight out of musical theater. 

“We were just blown away, because she treated the songs so differently from the way that we produced them and even arranged them,” Saliers said. “If we’re asked to do a cover of another song, we don’t want to do it the same way that the song was done. We thought Michelle was just so creative, so we got excited about it.” 

Indigo Girls’ latest album Look Long was released in 2020, and Saliers said the duo might get back to work on new music by the end of 2025. But between their collaborations, both Ray and Saliers work independently on their own projects. Lately, Saliers has been focused on writing the music for a few different musicals — three, to be exact. The one that has received the most traction is Starstruck, a collaboration with Fun Home Tony-nominee Beth Malone and Mary Ann Stratton. According to Saliers, the show is expected to have a two-and-a-half-week workshop this May in New York City. 

Saliers said she has always been interested in writing music for other artists to sing, but never had the time to really make it a priority. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she was able to make it work. That — along with a later-in-life appreciation for musical theater fueled by her young daughter — pushed her to Starstruck. 

“She is absolutely bonkers over musical theater,” Saliers said of her daughter. “She’s in a local theater group — Decatur Community Players. It’s a wonderful outlet for her.” 

As she saw more shows at the Fox, including a production of Hamilton that blew her away, her appreciation for what the art form could be only continued to grow. The love that goes into creating a Broadway show reminded her of her partnership with Ray. 

“Theater is a labor of love, for the writers, the creators, the producers, the actors, and I love that. There’s a purity about it,” Saliers said. “It kind of reminds me of the way that Amy and I have always operated from the same place, ever since we were in high school. And this beautiful career unfolded.” 

Tickets for the Fox’s Revival Benefit Concert can be purchased online.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Rough Draft Atlanta.