By Jennifer Russo

There is something to be said about music that comes from that place in the heart where every dream, thought and hope resides; music that does not venture to be commercial for the sake of winning a popularity contest but is a pure and authentic expression of artistry.

For years now, the Indigo Girls have graced our airwaves with a natural approach to music ~ keeping it simple but bringing to light raw emotions, delicate issues and a whole-hearted humanity in the form of song. These masterpieces make you hum along and make you think about something bigger than yourself. Their perfectly balanced, soulful harmonies have truly helped to define folk music as we know it.

Though still one half of the Indigo Girls (well and touring), Amy Ray needed another outlet in which to plug some of her different ideas, as well as her interest in other styles of music. Her successful solo career has launched her into another dimension of musical expression.

I asked Ray what the biggest challenge has been in setting herself apart in her solo career.

“My biggest worry used to be that there would be people who may not be Indigo Girls fans that I couldn’t really be exposed to because they would automatically assume that it was the same type of music. Even though it isn’t the same, I was worried that they wouldn’t appreciate what I do. After a certain amount of time, I couldn’t really worry about that, though, because it’s really all a part of who I am. It defines itself in how it defines itself. All I can really do is write honestly and do the solo stuff because I have some things to get out of my system and I like having this other palette to draw from.”

Ray’s solo music touches upon punk, rock, gospel and even country. Her new record, Goodnight Tender, is set to be released early next year under her own label and will be a full country album.

“It’s totally different from everything I have done, but I have always wanted to do a country record. I guess it could be called Americana, but it’s very traditional ~ Southern, Appalachian, gospel ~ I’ve been writing for it for a long time. I’m just doing it because I want to do it; it’s part of the same tapestry. This is another community of people I really wanted to collaborate with and write songs with.”

The songs that Ray has written have almost become living, breathing beings in themselves, lyrically pushing boundaries to reach listeners on a different level. The pure, raspy vocal and passionate, acoustic strumming discuss love and loss and have provided insight to political and world issues. People simply identify with their emotional content.

I asked Amy to tell me what empowers her to be able to write about subjects that others may not go out on a limb to write about.

“Emily (Sailers) really was the first person to empower me that way. When you are in a good duo and you support each other, you are somewhat in a safe zone; you can take chances. When I went on my own, I had the experience of knowing that safety. I wanted to go even more out on a limb, and it was scary and I felt vulnerable, but remembering taking those chances and having someone be supportive of it gives confidence.

“I also read a lot of books about writing (Stephen King’s On Writing and Anne LaMott’s Bird by Bird, specifically) that taught me about having discipline while writing and not censoring myself in those beginning stages ~ not thinking about the people or things that censor us internally. You run out of things to write about if you write every day, so the discipline is that you have to start digging a little deeper.”

That being said, in addition to her successful band and solo careers, Ray is one busy lady in advocating for social change.

For example, Ray tackled a race and government issue, recently finishing a song called “The Rise of the Black Messiah,” where she sings, “They call you the rise of the Black Messiah and said they’d do any damn thing they could to keep ya ~ you and your brothers~ from spreading the word, the gospel of freedom and the black man’s worth.”

The song was written after Ray received a letter seven years ago from Herman Wallace, one of the Angola 3, who was in solitary confinement for 40 years for a supposed crime that in other places would have been approached and tried much differently, with a much lesser punishment.

She is also a strong presence in activism pertaining to the gay community and is on the board of the organization that she helped to found with Emily Sailers and Winona LaDuke called Honor the Earth, which works towards the sustainability of native America by giving small grants to organizations and programs that are working to better the earth.

Amy Ray will play at the Wachussett Valley Music Festival in Lancaster on Sept. 14. For more information, check out www.wachusettmusic.com. To check out what else Amy Ray has been up to, visit her official website at amy-ray.com and to make a donation and help our planet, check out honortheearth.org.