The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Renowned Indigo Girls to perform
TORRINGTON — The Warner Theatre will welcome the GrammyAward winning band Indigo Girls to the Main Stage on Saturday, March 23 at 8 p.m. Opening the show is special guest Amythyst Kiah.
Thirty years after they began releasing records as the Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have politely declined the opportunity to slow down with age. With a legacy of releases and countless U.S. and international tours behind them, they have forged their own way in the music business. Selling over 14 million records, they are still going strong. Ray and Saliers are the only duo with top 40 titles on the Billboard 200 in the 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s.
In 2012, Saliers and Ray embarked on a bold new chapter, collaborating with a pair of orchestrators to prepare larger-than-life arrangements of their songs to perform with symphonies around the country. The duo found an elusive sonic sweet spot with the project, creating a seamless blend of folk, rock, pop, and classical that elevated their songs to new heights without scarifying any of the emotional intimacy and honesty that have defined their music for decades.
Now, after more than 50 performances with symphonies across America, the experiences have finally been captured in all its grandeur on the band’s stunning new album, Indigo Girls Live with The University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
The power of unity, both in music and in life, has been an Indigo Girls calling card ever since they burst into the spotlight with their 1989 self-titled breakout album. Since then, the band has racked up a slew of Gold and Platinum records, taken home a coveted Grammy Award, and earned the respect of high profile peers and collaborated from Michael Stipe to Joan Baez. NPR’s Mountain Stage called the group “one of the finest folk duos of all time” while Rolling Stone said “they personify what happens when two distinct sensibilities, voices, and worldviews come together to create something transcendentally its own.”
The duo has balanced their long, successful musical career by supporting numerous social causes – the Indigo Girls don’t just talk the talk; they walk the walk. Both on and off the stage, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray have secured their spot as one of the most legendary musical acts of this generation.
Their opening performer, Amythyst Kiah, is a professed Southern Gothic, alt-country blues singer/ songwriter based in Johnson City, TN. Her commanding stage presence is only matched by her raw and powerful vocals – a deeply moving, hypnotic sound that stirs echoes of a distant and restless past.
Accoutered interchangeably with banjo, acoustic guitar, or a full band (Her Chest of Glass), the singer’s toolbox is augmented by her scholarship of African American roots music. Her eclectic influences span decades, drawing heavily on old time music (Mississippi Sheiks, Son House, Jimmie Rodgers, Olla Belle Reed, Carter Family), inspired by strong R&B and country music vocalists from the '50s-'70s (Big Mama Thornton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn) and influenced by contemporary artists with powerful vocal integrity (Adele, Florence and the Machine, Megan Jean and the KFB, Janelle Monae). Provocative and coolly fierce, Kiah’s ability to cross the boundaries of blues and old-time through reinterpretation is groundbreaking and simply unforgettable.
To purchase tickets, call the Warner Box Office at 860-489-7180 or visit warnertheatre.org .