If it weren't so extraordinarily authoritative, the Indigo Girls' blissfully anachronistic folk music might be easily dismissed. There's not a shred of innovation or trendiness in the duo's flower-power sound.
The rapturous audience of 1,300 at the VooDoo Lounge wouldn't have it any other way. For many squeezed into the sold-out venue Wednesday evening, the Indigo Girls are much more than masterful entertainers. They represent an affirmation of a way of life. The level of devotion the Indigo Girls' fans invest in their heroes is a rare, sweet thing.
Moments after Amy Ray and Emily Saliers took the stage to thunderous cheers, even louder hosannas accompanied each defiant line of the feminist anthem "Pendulum Swinger." It was the first of two dozen songs in their hour-and-45-minute acoustic performance.
Radio and MTV hits are a distant memory to the Indigo Girls, but they remain relevant enough to pack places like the VooDoo and headline at the star-studded Austin City Limits Festival this weekend. The hard-working Georgians temper the stridency of Joan Baez with James Taylor's mellow muse. Only trace elements of the Southern gothic sensibility they share with R.E.M. prevent them from sounding like
coffeehouse relics from 1974.
Their interplay on guitars, mandolins and banjos is exquisite, but it's the balance of Salier's pure folk voice and Ray's rock 'n' roll huskiness that provides the Indigo Girls' most unique quality. Their distinctive harmonies have been one of pop music's most notable sounds since the late '80s. And they may have never sounded better. It's a
measure of the duo's vitality that material from 2006's "Despite Our Differences" was even more convincing than early hits like "Galileo" and "Closer To Fine."
For an act closely associated with numerous political and social issues, it's somewhat surprising that stage patter was primary limited to humble variations of "thanks, y'all." But talk wasn't necessary. Their earnest, unadorned music spoke volumes.
Evan McHugh opened the show with 35 minutes of gentle jingle jangle. Several of the Atlantan's painfully pleasant songs resembled demo versions of potential hits for Coldplay, James Blunt and John Mayer.
| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star
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