It’s Only Life After All”: Why the Indigo Girls Matter

Like any music-loving dyke of a certain age, I have some history with the Indigo Girls. When I lived in Durham, North Carolina, back in the 80s, they would come from Georgia a few times a year to play at Halby’s, a local delicatessen! This would bring out all the local lesbians and our friends and allies. Happily, they are still out there, and last year filled up a large venue, Provincetown Town Hall, on Cape Cod, where I live today.

Alexandria Bombach’s 2023 documentary, screened at SXSW, Sundance, Atlanta, and Provincetown, is both blessed and cursed by an abundance of archival footage of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers performing and being interviewed over the years. The two have been writing and performing intelligent and out music for decades, managing to remain relatable to a spectrum of fans from radical lesbians to mainstream audiences.

Amy and Emily began making music together as kids, and have always been partners in music, not romance. Amy identifies as butch and came out earlier than Emily. With a background in religious studies, she is the philosopher of the pair. Emily’s musical family encouraged her precocity, and her contributions tend to be songs of love or lost love. The two found their footing at Atlanta’s Little 5 Points Pub and were influenced by the musical and political community found there.

I learned a few things from this film, which goes into Emily’s drinking problem and subsequent sobriety, as well as their trashing by NY Times music reviewer Jon Pareles. His needless hatchet job left wounds that were revisited throughout their career when they were frequently targeted by satirists. I could suggest several straight male artists whose oeuvre is far more deserving of this treatment (Billy Joel, anyone?).

The film is informative and shows plenty of concert footage.  However, in this case, too much of a good thing is not wonderful. At over two hours, the film would be greatly improved by serious pruning. If I knew the director, I would tell her: Edit that thing until it pops! Cut it by an hour! And yes: Kill your darlings!

 

PS Janet Prolam reviewed the film at Provincetown Film Festival 

 

Review: Janet Prolman

Janet Prolman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, where her mother nicknamed her “my little queer.” She has also lived in North Carolina and New York. A lover of short stories, theater, music, and performance, she knows the lyrics to almost every song or advertising jingle she’s ever heard. Now on Cape Cod, she enjoys kayaking and frequenting Provincetown.