Shaming of the Sun

Performer: Indigo Girls
Artist: Lisa Germano; Chris Verene; Steve Earle; Michael Lorant; The Smoke; Sheila Doyle; Michelle Malone
Engineer: David Leonard
Producer: Indigo Girls; David Leonard
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Indigo Girls: Amy Ray (vocals, acoustic, electric, electric baritone & 12-string guitars, mandolin, bouzouki, piano); Emily Saliers (vocals, acoustic, electric & nylon-string guitars, banjo, dobro, bouzouki, dulcimer, piano, harmonium, hurdy gurdy). Smoke: Benjamin (vocals); Coleman T. Lewis (electric guitar); Brian F. Halloran (cello); William W. Taft (coronet); Timothy P. Campion (drums). Additional personnel includes: Steve Earle (vocals); Lisa Germano (mandolin, violin); Michael Lorant (piano, background vocals); Sheila Doyle (piano); Michael Kurth (bass); Jerry Marotta (drums, percussion); Chris Verene (drums); Michelle Malone, Pura Fe Crescioni, Carmen Caballero, Jennifer Kreisberg (background vocals). Recorded at Woodland Sound Studio, Nashville, Tennessee; Southern Tracks Recording, Atlanta, Georgia; Hit Shack and Arlyn Studio, Austin, Texas. SHAMING OF THE SUN was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. On their most politically charged album in years, the Indigo Girls take on such issues as intolerance, racism, and illegal immigration, all while making bold, ambitious music that is every bit as spirited and melodious as the Girls' past efforts. Singer-songwriters Emily Saliers and Amy Ray use creative arrangements, an eclectic mix of instruments (including bouzouki, mandolin, talking drum, and hurdy gurdy), and the vocal and musical support of Atlanta-area bands and big-name musicians to produce a passionate, hopeful album. The lyrics on SHAMING OF THE SUN are beautifully crafted, simultaneously exuding poeticism and strong political beliefs. In "Burn All the Letters," Saliers extols privacy rights while singing, "Soldiers are coming to plunder but there are some things they will never know/We made our love out of dignity, we dug our nails in the dirt/Hung our towel soaked souls out on the line/We loved so hard it hurt."

Entertainment Weekly (5/2/97, p.60) - "...now they've embraced electric guitars and the result is a looser, more 'live' studio album, emphasizing the rock in this folk-rock duo..." - Rating: B

Since the late-1980s, the Athens, Georgia, duo of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, collectively the Indigo Girls, have been creating gentle, yet furious harmonies, gloriously un-fragile folk crafted with an uncompromising DIY aesthetic. In 1989, MTV caught wind of the pair and, while the outlet's sensationalist nature harped on the lesbian angle, the station also pushed the single "Closer to Fine" onto the pop charts. The fanbase remained, even after any wisp of novelty faded, and the 1990s saw the Indigo Girls release a constant stream of critically praised records, highlighted by RITES OF PASSAGE and SWAMP OPHELIA.

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