Its not often you get to see Grammy award-winning artists for free; its even rarer that you get to catch them in an intimate setting, sharing the stage with some of your favorite local acts.
But fans of Indigo Girls [pictured right, photo by Matt Odom] will get to do both this Friday, when the folk-rock twosome comes to the Tampa Bay area to kick off the fourth annual FolkFest St. Pete. Organized by Creative Clay, this free event is dedicated to folk and Americana-inspired music, art, dance and storytelling, and takes over a few blocks of Central Avenue for three days this weekend. And the Indigo Girls are the biggest headliner FolkFest has secured since its inception. Its really just such a cool, great idea, remarked Amy Ray in an interview about the fest.
The duo, founded by Ray and childhood friend Emily Saliers, burst onto the music scene in the late 1980s. In a pre-Lilith Fair era, the success of acts like 10,000 Maniacs and Tracy Chapman paved the way, as major labels clamored for the chance to find the next greatest folk-influenced female-fronted act. They were eventually picked up by Epic Records and in 1989 released their self-titled major label debut, which featured the Indigo Girls best-known number, Closer to Fine. And despite losing out on the 1990 Grammy for Best New Artist which went to and was eventually returned by lip-synching duo Milli Vanilli the Indigo Girls managed to nab the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album that year.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2010.
