Melissa Etheridge and Indigo Girls: Yes We Are Tour

Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge stormed onto the American rock scene in 1988 with the release of her critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. Her popularity grew over the years around such memorable originals as “Bring Me Some Water,” “No Souvenirs” and “Ain’t It Heavy,” for which she won a Grammy in 1992. Etheridge hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, “Yes I Am” (1993), featuring the massive hits “I’m the Only One” and “Come to My Window,” which brought Etheridge her second Grammy for Best Female Rock Performance. In 1995, Etheridge issued her highest-charting album “Your Little Secret,” distinguished by the hit single “I Want to Come Over.” Her astounding success led to Songwriter of the Year honors at the ASCAP Pop Awards in 1996.

Known for her confessional lyrics and raspy, smoky vocals, Etheridge has remained one of America’s favorite female singers for more than two decades. In 2007, she celebrated a career milestone with Best Song honors at the Academy Awards for “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the Al Gore documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Etheridge has shown herself to be an artist who has never allowed “inconvenient truths” to keep her down. Earlier in her career, she acknowledged her sexual orientation when it was considered less than prudent to do so. In 2004, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and, despite losing her hair from chemotherapy, Etheridge appeared on the 2005 Grammy telecast to sing “Piece of My Heart” in tribute to Janis Joplin, giving hope to many women afflicted with the disease.

In 2016, Etheridge released “Memphis Rock & Soul,” her first album since 2014’s critically lauded “This Is M.E.” She followed that up with the release of her 15th studio recording, “The Medicine Show,” in 2019.

Etheridge launched The Etheridge Foundation in 2020 to support groundbreaking scientific research into effective new treatments and solutions for opioid use disorder.

In 2021, she returned with “One Way Out,” a nine-track album of songs she wrote in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s that never made the cut – until now!

2022 saw her return to the theater with her one-woman show, “My Window – Journey Through Life.” The critically acclaimed, sold-out run premiered at New World Stages on Oct. 13 and opened at Circle In the Square Theatre on Broadway in September 2023.

She released “Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken” in 2024. This two-part docuseries (Paramount+) and accompanying live album, recorded within the grounds of the Topeka Correctional Facility, follow her journey penning and performing an original song inspired by her correspondence with TCF residents and feature raw and rousing versions of specially curated fan favorites and original songs.

Indigo Girls

Across four decades, 16 studio albums and over 15 million records sold, Indigo Girls continue to blaze the trail for generations of Queer artists in the mainstream. The Grammy-winning duo of Emily Saliers and Amy Ray began their career in clubs and bars around their native Atlanta amidst a blossoming alternative music scene before signing to Epic Records in 1988. Indigo Girls’ eponymous major label debut sold over two million copies under the power of singles “Closer to Fine” and “Kid Fears” and introduced the duo’s signature harmonies and stirring, sophisticated songs to a dedicated, enduring global audience. “Indigo Girls” was the first of six consecutive gold and/or platinum-certified albums. Their latest record, “Look Long,” is a heartfelt and eclectic collection that finds the duo reunited in the studio with their strongest backing band to date. “We joke about being old, but what is old when it comes to music? We’re still a bar band at heart,” says Saliers. “While our lyrics and writing approach may change, our passion for music feels the same as it did when we were 25 years old.”

Committed and uncompromising activists, Saliers and Ray work on issues like racial justice and reproductive rights (Project Say Something), immigration reform (El Refugio), LGBTQ advocacy, education (Imagination Library), death penalty reform, and Native American rights (First Peoples Fund).

“As time has gone on, our audience has become more expansive and diverse, giving me a sense of joy,” says Saliers. Recently, “Closer to Fine” featured prominently in the blockbuster film “Barbie” and introduced Indigo Girls’ music to a new generation. Released in 2024, their critically acclaimed documentary “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All” blends 40 years of home movies, raw film archive and intimate present-day verité into a soulful career retrospective. The 2023 jukebox musical “Glitter & Doom” tells of a whirlwind romance through reimaginations of classic Indigo Girls songs.

Indigo Girls’ live performances aren’t so much duets as they are community experiences – massive group singalongs with their audience. To hear those collective voices raise into one, we realize the importance Indigo Girls’ music has in this moment. We are all in search of a daily refuge, a stolen hour or two, to engage with something that brings us joy, perspective, or maybe just calm. For millions, they go to the Indigo Girls: a creative partnership certain of its bearings, forging a way forward.