Indigo Girls Live With The University Of Colorado Orchestra

I had never heard of the Indigo Girls before I moved to the East Coast of the United States. Most people in my age group were horrified to hear this, as the Indigo Girls have been a staple on the radio quite a bit over the past 30 years or so. Although I've never made it through their entire catalog by myself, I associate their music with potlucks and sitting quietly with friends. I frequently associate stringed instruments with recordings of the Indigo Girls, but not necessarily a full percussion and brass section. I was pleasantly surprised by their recent live record with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Possibly the audience noise is turned down or engineered away; when the audience occasionally burst into applause I was unprepared. Additional strings made me feel that songs were downtempo, even though they were not, but percussion and brass assisted in creating a more abrasive pace. I found the brass sections most effective in creating a sensation of motion in both "Able to Sing" and "Go." The latter song, in particular, resonates with me, since it traces activism of the protagonist through a grandmother and into the protagonist, then forward to the youngest generation to whom this song is addressed. Longtime fans of the Indigo Girls will also appreciate the treatments of "Woodsong," "Power of Two," "Galileo," "Kid Fears" and, of course, the universally beloved "Closer To Fine." "Damo"'s Celtic inspiration is more obvious here as is the gospel influence on "Come A Long Way."

As someone who appreciates folk-rock with hints of Americana, the whole live set is a bit more rounded out in sound than normal. The brass sections and solos take away melancholy and add quite a bit of tension and grandiosity, to leave the listener with a different appreciation of both Emily Saliers and Amy Ray's original compositions. The twenty-two song set is not what I consider a definitive selection, as I am a fan of particular songs which bear personal associations or a greatest hits collection, but the entire set pulls from many albums to pepper the live concert with favorites from different eras and, unlike their other live albums, instead of covering any other artists they are instead covering their own work: Delivering emotion which differs a bit from the original releases and clearly selecting tracks best highlighted with the backing of a full orchestra.

"Indigo Girls Live With The University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Indigo Girls"
Rounder Records
$34.95 (LP) $15.99 (CD) $14.99 (digital)
http://www.rounder.com/2018/05/indigo-girls-live-with-the-university-of-colorado-symphony-orchestra/