Ravinia 2024 Issue 4

PAVILION 7:00 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 11, 2024 INDIGO GIRLS and MELISSA ETHERIDGE Melissa Etheridge –Intermission– Indigo Girls INDIGO GIRLS Having performed together since high school, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers adopted the name Indigo Girls in 1985 while attending Emory University in their native Georgia. Their first full-length album, Strange Fire , was released in a limited run two years later; among its listen- ers was Epic Records, which signed the sing- er-songwriters the following year. The Indigo Girls’ first major release came in 1989, with fel- low Georgian Michael Stipe of R.E.M. provid- ing additional vocals on “Kid Fears” for their eponymous album. While the guest appearance helped garner some early spins on college radio, the folk-rock duo’s own “Closer to Fine” became a major hit, earning them two Grammy nomi- nations (winning Best Contemporary Folk Re- cording honors with the album) that year and pushing the disc to multiplatinum sales. “Ham- mer and a Nail” received a Grammy nod while 1990’s Nomads Indians Saints climbed to gold sales status, and then their next three studio albums, beginning with Rites of Passage (1992), captured increasingly higher peak chart posi- tions and Grammy nominations: Rites hit num- ber 21 and Swamp Ophelia (1994) hit number 9 while each went platinum, and the gold record Shaming of the Sun (1997) soared to number 7 with “Shame on You” becoming a major Top 40 radio hit. After another three studio albums and a rarities compilation to mark their 20th anni- versary, the Indigo Girls parted with Epic and collaborated with Hollywood Records and pro- ducer Mitchel Froom on Despite Our Differenc- es (2006). Major label independence followed in 2009 with Poseidon and the Bitter Bug , and in 2011 they reunited with the producer from Rites and Swamp for Beauty Queen Sister , which featured a host of guest musicians and further encapsulated the “heart-over-head” organic ap- proach the duo sought in independent record- ing. Across One Lost Day (2015) and the duo’s most recent record, Look Long (2020), both Ray and Saliers went through a number of changes in their personal lives—including becoming parents—which carried over into expanded sonic and songwriting palettes. Tonight marks the Indigo Girls’ eighth appearance at Ravinia, where they first played in 2000. MELISSA ETHERIDGE Growing up in Kansas, Melissa Etheridge played guitar in local bands throughout her teens before attending the Berklee School of Music and then relocating to Los Angeles, where she began a long association with Island Records. Etheridge’s first recorded music appeared on the soundtrack to the 1986 movie Weeds , and shortly thereafter she released her eponymous debut album, which featured the single “Bring Me Some Water,” a mainstream-rock hit that garnered her the first of many Grammy nods. That 1988 album drew comparisons to rock icons John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen and was quickly followed by Brave and Crazy the following year; both charted in the top 40 and went platinum. Etheridge won her first Grammy for “Ain’t It Heavy” from Never Enough (1992), and then her subsequent album, Yes I Am (1993), permanently etched her rock credentials. Produced by Hugh Padgham of Genesis and The Police fame, the album’s singles “I’m the Only One” and “Come to My Window” burst onto Bill- board ’s charts and each garnered Best Rock Song Grammy nominations (the latter winning for Best Rock Vocal, Female). Certified six-times platinum, Yes I Am remains a bestseller, and its follow-up, Your Little Secret (1995), became her highest-charting album at number six. Etheridge won the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Award in 1996 and continued to earn Grammy nominations, including for the song “I Need to Wake Up,” which she wrote for the documentary An Inconvenient Truth and won her an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Her last album with Island, 4th Street Feeling (2012), was named for the main thoroughfare of her Leavenworth, KS, hometown. Etheridge has since released four albums: the exploratory This Is M.E. (2014), featuring collaborations with producers Jerrod Bettis, Jon Levine, and Roccstar; the blues disc MEmphis Rock and Soul (2016), covering standards by the likes of Otis Redding, William Bell, and Sam & Dave; 2019’s spotlight on healing and self-care, The Medicine Show ; and most recently One Way Out (2021), a collection of songs from her early career. Last fall she premiered a one-woman show on Broadway, My Window . Melissa Etheridge is making her fourth appearance at Ravinia, where she first performed in 2013. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 77