In Tuesday’s (10/22) Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee), Elaine Schmidt interviews Amy Ray, who with Emily Saliers is one half of the singer/songwriter duo the Indigo Girls, set to perform with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra this Thursday. “ ‘Playing with an orchestra is super fun,’ Ray said in a recent phone interview. ‘The first time you stand there with this orchestra playing right there, you just want to stand and listen. You’re just gobsmacked.’ The Indigo Girls started their orchestral venture in 2012 and, according to Ray, have done about a dozen such concerts so far.… ‘I think at first you feel restricted because you’re having to focus in a different way than you’re used to and you feel boundaries you haven’t felt before,’ she said.… ‘I had a concept of which tunes would work when we started this, but I think much more broadly now …When you have that much input—all the different instruments and chord voicings—you start to think in a new way and it lets you write in a different way. Performing with an orchestra really opens you up musically and broadens your horizons,’ she said. ‘We’re just really excited about these concerts.’ ”
Posted October 23, 2013
