As one half of Indigo Girls, Emily Saliers owns one of the most important voices of a generation. It should come as no surprise to those of us who have spent a lot of time with Saliers' voice that her debut solo album, Murmunation Nation, teems with warm sounds and winding words that oscillate between the urgent and the eternal.
But that's not to say the album, or our conversation about it, are devoid of other surprises. Saliers challenged my assumptions about some of the music that's influenced her most, and shared what it was really like for her to come out in the '80s, including the stigma of being a lesbian who plays acoustic guitar.
Saliers stopped by World Cafe with violinist Lyris Hung, who produced the album along with Lucy Wainwright Roche (the daughter of Loudon and Suzzy). They perform stripped-down versions of songs from Murmuration Nation, and Saliers accepts my cell phone ringtone challenge. You'll never guess what hers is (hint: it's not "Closer to Fine").
Hear the complete session in the player above, or watch Saliers perform "Fly" in our studios.
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