Culture
Stuart’s Hosts Amy Ray of Indigo Girls Nov. 13
< < Back toStuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio welcomes Amy Ray on Tuesday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. Amythyst Kiah will open the show! Amy Ray has been performing as one half of the legendary Indigo Girls for over 30 years, and will be embarking on her solo tour this fall and heading to Stuart’s Opera House. Amy Ray and her band will be touring behind their new country album, Holler which was just released this past September. Holler features special guests including Derek Trucks, Vince Gill, Brandi Carlile, The Wood Brothers, Justin Vernon, and more.
The Indigo Girls began making music in the early 1980’s. With an extremely loyal and passionate fan base, they sold millions of albums and garnered numerous awards over the years, but that was never really the point. More importantly, they expressed themselves creatively, poetically, politically, and spiritually. Each release pushed The Indigo Girls’ musical boundaries. They incorporated elements of folk, country, rock, pop, punk, and soul into their evolution, giving each album a fresh sound without losing sight of their art or themselves. To give back what was given to them, Ray founded the not-for-profit Daemon Records in 1990. The label’s mission is to support local artists at a grassroots level, to teach young artists how to further their own careers, and to keep the independent spirit alive.
Inspired by the music of these bands and the Southern punk/indie rock scene, Ray embarked on a solo adventure in 2000. Traveling around the Southeast with guitar and amp in tow, she wrote, rehearsed, and recorded Stag, teaming up with The Butchies, The Rock*A*Teens, Danielle Howle, and 1945, with a quick stop in NYC to play with Joan Jett, Kate Schellenbach, and Josephine Wiggs. Stag hit the streets in March 2001, and changed her trajectory from that point on. The depths and intensity of her artistry and emotions are revealed in awe-inspiring punk performances on its ten songs, giving Ray a forum to more fully express her political stances and questions of self. Stag was followed by the similarly themed Prom in 2005. Ray issued Live from Knoxville in 2007. Following several well-received Indigo Girls albums, she released the introspective solo offering Didn’t It Feel Kinder in 2008, MVP Live in 2010, and Lung of Love in early 2012 – all on Daemon. The latter contained guest vocal spots from Brandi Carlile and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. In early 2014, Ray released Goodnight Tender, her first country album. Guests on the set of tunes include Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and Susan Tedeschi. In 2015, Indigo Girls released One Lost Day, and Indigo Girls Live With the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra in June 2018, and will be recording a new album in January of 2019 in the U.K.
Amy Ray and her band’s new country album, Holler was released on September 28, 2018. It was recorded live to tape at her mainstay Echo Mountain Studio in Asheville, NC, with the added power and swagger of horns and strings that harken back to the country music of the late 60’s. Holler features special guests: Alison Brown on banjo, Kofi Burbridge on keys, Derek Trucks on guitar; Vince Gill, Brandi Carlile, The Wood Brothers, Justin Vernon, Lucy Wainwright Roche and Phil Cook on harmonies. Amy and her band will be hitting the road throughout the Fall of 2018 and beyond.
A professed Southern Gothic songster based in Johnson City, TN, Amythyst Kiah’s 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), Amythyst’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).
Amy Ray will perform at Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio on Tuesday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are available right now! Reserved seats are $22 in advance or $27 at the door and Box seats are $27 in advance or $32 at the door. Amythyst Kiah will open the show. For more information call (740) 753-1924 or visit our website at
www.stuartsoperahouse.org.