The Indigo Girls - music group's involvement with politics - Interview

Progressive, The, Dec, 1996 by Robert Perkinson

When Bob Dole and company rant about the "cultural elite," they make the entertainment industry sound like a bastion of leftwing subversion. But while many recording and film personalities are armchair liberals, it is rare for entertainment stars to become dedicated progressive activists. Two exceptions are Emily Saliers and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, who have been touring, fundraising, and speaking out on behalf of grassroots Native-American environmentalists for the last several years.

Since arriving on the Southern alternative and folk scene in Athens, Georgia, eleven years ago, the Indigo Girls have enjoyed a remarkably successful career. They have played more than 1,200 shows in the United States and around the world, received five Grammy nominations, and sold more than six million records in the United States alone. Throughout, they have maintained an intense connection to their audience. In recent years, the Indigo Girls' ethereal lyrics and rich harmonies have taken a more "plugged-in" and politicized turn. They call it "acoustic folk rock with angst" and say their images have become more crisp and assertive.

Since 1991, the Indigo Girls have increasingly turned their energies toward political activism. In 1995, they completed the twenty-one-stop "Honor the Earth" tour, which raised some $250,000 for grassroots Native-American activists and generated thousands of letters to public officials. This summer they produced a benefit CD, titled Honor, which includes new tracks by Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Cockburn, John Trudell, Soul Asylum, and the Indigo Girls themselves. Currently they are recording their eighth album with Epic Records and are planning another, larger benefit tour for indigenous environmentalism next summer.

I caught up with Saliers and Ray recently in New York City, where they were playing a benefit dinner for the Honor the Earth campaign, the joint project of several indigenous environmental organizations. Before warming up for the show, the Indigo Girls took off the afternoon to talk.

Q: How did you become so involved in Native-American and environmental politics?

Amy Ray: We've always been political. We started out early in our career with environmental causes, doing a lot of Greenpeace benefits. Then, in 1991, we took part in a show in New York City, "Ban the Dam Jam." It was part of a wide effort to keep New England states from contracting with Hydro-Quebec, which was building the James Bay hydroelectric project mostly on Native lands.

I didn't really know Winona LaDuke [the co-chair of the Indigenous Women's Network] or other Native activists at that time who were working against James Bay. I talked to her at an Earth Day event later, and we decided to put our resources together. That's when we got more involved. Emily and I felt that the indigenous environmental movement was really important because its approach was more down our alley, because it was very grassroots and winning a lot of battles. We felt it was important and effective.

But it's hard to break into it. When we first started doing environmental work, we were both interested in indigenous issues, but in the Southeast the information wasn't readily available.

Q: Have you started making more connections with indigenous communities in the Southeast now?

Emily Saliers: We'll be doing more of that on the next Honor the Earth benefit tour. Last year we concentrated mostly on the West. We're recording a new album, and will probably go out in mid or late summer. It's going to be a tour with bigger venues this time so we can raise more money.

Ray: But we don't want to take it out of the grassroots realm into the "rock-star" realm.

Q: Is it contradictory trying to launch a national effort on behalf of grassroots, local environmentalists?

Ray: On a national level, we've tried to highlight a small number of issues--winnable issues, which are easy to explain to the press and the public. Clinton's Salvage Rider, which allows more logging on Native old-growth forests, is a good example. On the other hand, all the money raised goes into a grant foundation that helps regional and local environmental organizations. So we're trying to have a national outlook in a grassroots way which is difficult, I guess.

Saliers: But it's something the whole country is struggling with--national versus local politics. I think it's important for people to feel empowered in their local communities. Of course, there's always the danger of removing federal protections, especially in conservative states. But in my heart, idealistically, I believe the best power comes from local communities. This is something Native activists can teach the country as a whole.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with the Honor CD you've just released?

Ray: A few things. It's an organizing piece. It's got information about how to join the Honor the Earth campaign, about some of the issues, with statistics about environmental destruction on indigenous lands. There are political-action cards to get public pressure going right now. People can send postcards right out of the CD urging President Clinton to repeal the Salvage Rider. On another level, there is a lot of music on there that people haven't been exposed to in our peer group. Along with Jane Siberry. Bruce Cockburn, and Toad the Wet Sprocket, we've got Native-American artists like Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice, Ulali, and John Trudell. So it's a cultural exchange. And then we're trying to raise money. All of the money goes into the campaign.