Album Review: Beauty Queen Sister by Indigo Girls

Those who preferred the Indigo Girls' second, acoustic disc in 2009's double Poseidon & the Bitter Bug will find themselves instantly comfortable with the material on Beauty Queen Sister. The album represents a reunion of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers with producer Peter Collins, who helmed Swamp Ophelia and Rites of Passage. Its musical meld of contemporary folk, country-ish sounds, and aching harmonies are the pair's trademark.

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Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls have known each other since elementary school and have been playing music together for over 25 years. Their songs have always been pleasant folk-country stories, and with the duo’s 12th studio album, Beauty Queen Sister, Indigo Girls continue that trend. While the album is more country ballads than the indie sensibility that we have attributed the word “folk” to, the talent on the album holds up against the young, fresh acts filed under the folk genre today.

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With a career that spans more than 30 years, includes one Grammy award and several nominations, as well as several studio recordings that have achieved platinum, double platinum or gold record sales status, The Indigo Girls can certainly be considered amongst the most renowned folk rock duos, along side the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, The Everly Brothers and Hall & Oates. Beauty Queen Sister, their 14th studio recording, hearkens back to 1992’s Rites of Passage and 1994’s Swamp Ophelia, both produced by Peter Collins, who returns behind the console for this disc, adding his rootsy, organic approach to the results. Throughout their career, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have long held a staunch dedication to a number of social and political causes, including lesbian community activism, Native American rights, environmental issues and anti-death penalty causes.

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