It’s hard to believe the Indigo Girls have never played Victoria before.
The duet of Amy Ray, 49, and Emily Saliers, 50, have gone multiplatinum with their guitar-strumming folk music but only came through Victoria for the first time earlier this summer to play the Vancouver Island Musicfest in Comox.
They’ll finally make their Victoria debut on Sept. 22 at the McPherson Playhouse. Though their last album is the 2011 release Beauty Queen Sister, they decided now’s the time to do an all-Canadian tour, with 15 stops from Victoria to Halifax.
“We were in Victoria and Tofino for my 50th birthday,” Saliers said.
While Atlanta is becoming known as an LGBT community (ranked first in 2010 and ninth in 2012 in the Advocate.com’s gayest cities in America) its restaurant scene, apparently, isn’t as up to date. Saliers is involved on an ownership level with Atlanta restaurant Watershed, which has a focus on locally sourced food, and is happy to dine on all of its southern cooking, meat included, though she’s looking forward to eating vegetarian in Victoria.
“Stunning. Can’t wait to go back. And I loved Rebar, I’m looking forward to eating there again. We don’t have anything like it (in Atlanta). It blew me away.”
Watershed is just another of Saliers’ many endeavours as well as her political and environmental advocacy, and successful music career. With a new baby, it’s turned the road into a place for reprieve.
It’s a time to catch up on sleep.
“Baby is nine months old and she isn’t sleeping well at night. I don’t really sit down around (Atlanta) anymore.”
So if you see Saliers looking sleepy-eyed while dining at Rebar this weekend, you’ll know why.
“We’re getting a sleep doula. Sleep books, we have those too.”
Babies is the Indigo Girls’ theme of the year as Saliers’ partner Tristin Chipman gave birth back in December and Ray’s longtime partner Carrie Schrader is expecting a baby in November. You can just hear the cynical public’s response typecasting the children of the folky, left-wing promoters of gay rights and the environment.
Truth is, being a parent is the same for all. Well, almost the same.
“I’m used to life on the road, I think my daughter has been on 20 flights already,” Saliers said. “I don’t know how I could do it without my wife, she’s incredible. I have the greatest partner in the world.”
Chipman is part Canadian with family in Alberta, where she and baby will link up with the tour there later this month.
“I can’t wait to play more shows in the land of the greats: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, k.d. lang, and The Tragically Hip. Excellent times await this journey. It also feels like starting anew in small, intimate venues.”
Tickets are available online at www.rmts.bc.ca or by phone at 250-386-6121.
By Travis Paterson
sports@vicnews.com