Indigo Girls’ Symphonic Adventure

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers announce their first-ever symphony tour, beginning in Tennessee next month.

Emily Saliers and Amy Ray.

The symphonic outing isn’t the only inaugural moment for the duo in July. The Indigo Girls embark on the second leg of their first-ever full-band tour with a gig at Tipitina’s in New Orleans July 12. Performing with Atlanta’s The Shadowboxers, the plan calls for the band to open the summer shows and then back the Indigo Girls on the ladies’ headlining set.

Of course, the symphonic tour is an entirely different animal. In preparation for the tour, the Indigo Girls enlisted musical arrangers Sean O’Loughlin (Chris Isaak, Feist, The Decemberists, Josh Ritter) and Stephen Barber (Rosanne Cash, Alejandro Escovedo, John Legend), to write the orchestral charts for songs covering the duo’s career from their 1987 self-titled debut up to their 2011 album, Beauty Queen Sister. The plan calls for the Indigo Girls to perform with local symphony orchestras.

Here’s the routing:

July 28 – Chattanooga, Tenn., Tivoli Theatre (with The Chattanooga Symphony)
Aug. 29 – Dallas, Texas, Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center (with The Dallas Symphony)
Sept. 12 – Seattle, Wash., Benaroya Hall (with The Seattle Symphony)
Sept. 21 – Birmingham, Ala., Alabama Theatre (with The Alabama Symphony)
Sept. 28 – Buffalo, N.Y., Kleinhans Music Hall (with The Buffalo Philharmonic)
Nov. 9 – Portland, Ore., Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (with The Oregon Symphony).

“I was always awed at Paul Buckmaster’s orchestral arrangements for Elton John,” Saliers said in a statement. “Much later on, I was struck by Nanci Griffith’s music when played with an orchestra so I knew it was exciting to hear artists with orchestras. I think Amy and I just decided it was time for us to do it at this point, something new and different and inspiring.”

Ray also commented on the upcoming symphony outing, saying “It can bring new dimension to old songs as well as highlight songs that have string arrangements on the recordings but were never played live in an orchestrated configuration.”

While each show will be different, the Indigo Girls plan to perform for approximately two hours with each orchestra followed by encoring sans symphony.

Photo: Owen Sweeney / OwenSweeneyPhoto.com

Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pa.

Some shows are already on sale. Visit IndigoGirls.com for more information.