{"id":594640,"date":"2026-04-20T00:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T00:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594640\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T00:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T00:45:17","slug":"indigo-girls-emily-saliers-reveals-conditions-affecting-her-vocals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594640\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigo Girls’ Emily Saliers Reveals Conditions Affecting Her Vocals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Indigo Girls<\/a> have been receiving an outpouring of support and love from fans and famous admirers, after the duo released a video statement in which Emily Saliers<\/a> got exceptionally frank about how two incurable physical conditions she\u2019s experiencing will adversely affect her vocals on their upcoming tour.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a clip posted to their Instagram account, with Amy Ray<\/a> sitting beside her, Saliers talked about how she has been diagnosed with cervical dystonia and an essential tremor \u2014 both of which have hampered her ability to sing in a clear and constant tone. Nonetheless, they are forging ahead with the tour, but with full advance warning to the audience that they will notice the difference.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnfortunately there\u2019s no cure for these, so the honest fact is that my voice will not be what it was,\u201d Saliers said, briefly becoming tearful amid the otherwise matter-of-fact explanation of what she is dealing with. \u201cThat\u2019s really hard for me. \u2026 I hate that I\u2019m only 62 and it\u2019s happened to me, but we are both aging. People age. We are trying to look at this organically as a process of our own aging. \u2026 I just hope that you can have some grace with my struggles for this particular touring year. We\u2019re gonna work hard to make it good, and then whatever the future holds, we\u2019ll see. \u2026 We want to bring you the best show that we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaliers talked about the medical treatment she has been getting to mitigate the effects of these two conditions on her singing. For the upcoming tour, she said they have been working on altering arrangements, boosting the support they already got from background singers like band mainstay Lucy Wainwright Roche, and making use of \u201call the modern digital tools that front-of-house engineers use to help singers sound better.\u201d (A huge percentage of modern pop artists use live tuning as part of their concert arsenal, though very few have ever owned up to it.)<\/p>\n

\n\tReaction to this revelation was as emotional and positive as might be expected. And their fellow performing artists were among the first to chime in in the comments with applause for how boldly and proactively the Indigo Girls were handling this tough situation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat you offer the world is beyond bodies,\u201d wrote Sara Bareilles on Instagram. \u201cThank you for sharing whatever you have to share. It will be received with so much love and gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPosted superfan Brandi Carlile<\/a>: \u201cThis is why these two have been my heroes and the only reason I ever picked up a guitar. Being an @indigogirls<\/a> fan is a life-long privilege. Indigo Girls fans already have an evolved perspective on aging and a deeper understanding of how badass vulnerability really is. This is because of the music they have given us. Wisdom breeds wisdom.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo say we have Emily\u2019s back is the understatement of the century,\u201d Carlile continued. \u201cIf you love to sing, Emily, sing. We will be there singing with you. We are the luckiest fans in the world \u2013 we know our verses, and we know the words to every song. Let\u2019s sing them back at the Indigo Girls louder than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Indigo Girls\u2019 video begins with Saliers saying: <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re coming to you from Atlanta where we\u2019re been practicing and looking forward to our tour dates that we have for 2026, and we needed to make y\u2019all aware of something. To those of you in our community who have supported us all these years, we\u2019re so grateful for you, and I wanted to be completely forthcoming. We both have talked about this and are in support of each other\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMany of you have noticed that my voice \u2014 maybe all of you have noticed, it\u2019s pretty noticeable \u2014 that my voice is not what it once was. So I wanted to share with you that I\u2019ve been diagnosed with two movement disorders. One is called cervical dystonia with torticollis, which basically is in the part of my brain that controls movement. And in other people with this condition, the brain sends signals to tighten muscles\u2026 So because of the cervical dystonia, my, head twists to the right and is misaligned. It can cause shaking of the head. It\u2019s impossible for me to hold my head centrally without shaking, things like that. So structurally, obviously, that is problematic for this whole throat area. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBut the other diagnosis, which is harder in fact for me, is an essential tremor. And the essential tremor causes involuntary shakes or movement, and it affects all the parts of my singing apparatus, the larynx, the pharyngeal muscles, my jaw and my diaphragm from which I get all the air for singing. So I\u2019m unable to make the connections muscularly and structurally because of the essential tremor. What else the essential tremor does is give me this \u2014 I am gonna call it horrible, because it\u2019s horrible to me \u2014 vibrato that I never used to have. I am completely physically unable to hold a straight tone the way I used to.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd this is what you, our community, have come to, I think, appreciate and love about some of our harmonies is the way we can hold long straight tones together. So I want to give you a heads up about that, in full transparency. I\u2019m doing everything that I can know and that the medical community has advised me to mitigate the symptoms of these two disorders. So that includes therapeutic massage, physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture\u2026. I get Botox shots in my neck and shoulders every three months. That\u2019s sort of the standard line of treatment for these disorders. And I\u2019m also seeing a vocal coach who is an expert in movement disorders for singers, particularly essential tremor.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnfortunately there\u2019s no cure for these, so the honest fact is that my voice will not be what it was. That\u2019s really hard for me. Amy\u2019s been super supportive, and we want you to know that as we get ready for these shows, we are doing everything we can to make the songs sound as good as they can possibly sound or ever sound, which includes all the modern digital tools that front-of-house engineers use to help singers sound better. So we\u2019ll be using those and we\u2019ll be working on harmony parts\u201d. Lucy, Wayne, Wright Roach and Lyric and Jeff Fielder will be joining us. We\u2019ll be singing some harmonies.\u201d with the backup-singing musicians. \u201cThere may be some new arrangements\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe wanted together to let you know that this has been going on. I\u2019ve had this diagnosis for a while, but as I say, the conditions get incrementally worse over time. \u2026 I hate that I\u2019m only 62 and it\u2019s happened to me, but we are both aging. People age. We are trying to look at this organically as a process of our own aging. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are no words to articulate our gratitude for you, our community, who has been with us through our activism and through all the albums and through even our personal struggles through all the years. I just hope that you can have some grace with my struggles for this particular touring year. We\u2019re gonna work hard to make it good, and then whatever the future holds, we\u2019ll see. \u2026 We want to bring you the best show that we possibly can. And unfortunately this is a condition that can\u2019t be reversed or mitigated unless there\u2019s some medical breakthrough that hasn\u2019t happened yet. So that\u2019s where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt this point, Ray added her thoughts. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re just reviewing all the songs. It\u2019s interesting because there\u2019s a lot of things I need to work on, too, and so we\u2019re picking out the strongest songs\u2026 You know,we\u2019re not changing things drastically. Basically, we\u2019re bringing Lucy (Wainwright Roche) in a little bit more and that helps support us. And then we are just practicing together to make sure we\u2019re singing together and blending as much as we can in the best way. So we\u2019re doing the work because we love the music and we love you guys. And we don\u2019t wanna just say, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re not gonna do it anymore because of this.\u2019 We just want to keep playing and do our best, and I feel like y\u2019all are the best audience ever. And we\u2019re sort of as a community, you know, all going through things. So, so we\u2019re gonna hang together, you know, and just do our thing. And the central message of love and self-esteem and activism and all that, it\u2019s therem and that\u2019s what we want to share.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s heavy and it\u2019s life,\u201d said Saliers. \u201cWe are just telling you because we\u2019re gonna go through this year touring, and we don\u2019t want it to be this thing that people are talking about, that we\u2019re not talking about. Because we expect you guys to believe in yourself. and we want to believe in ourselves. So if we can\u2019t play all your requests, it\u2019s not because we don\u2019t want to, we\u2019re just picking the songs, as Amy said, that work the best. And we hope we can bring you joy and that we can all enjoy these. I mean, I know we all need the bonding, galvanizing power of music together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the response, it seems clear that few if any fans will hold the alteration of arrangements in these shows against them. The message was met with a torrent of enthusiasm for the Indigo Girls carrying on. And some of their contemporaries led the way in the online onset of praise for their honesty and perseverance.<\/p>\n

\n\tWrote singer Chely Wright: \u201cYou are the definition of authenticity, courage and grace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaid Jennifer Nettles: \u201cForever in both of your corners! Forever a fan! Forever your friend. Your whole community of fans and friends are with you and I will be in the front row clapping the loudest and singing to the top of my lungs!! Your music sings and grows and evolves right along with life. Ever transforming. Thank you for your hearts and support of each other. You are inspiration to us all. See you on the road!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSleater-Kinney wrote, \u201cThank you for continuing to inspire as you move through the world with such grace and honesty. Your songs are forever etched in our hearts and we will sing with you every single night. Love you both and wish you well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd, posted Glennon Doyle: \u201cYour audience has been aging too, Emily and Amy. We\u2019re entering our Indigo Crones era with you. So much has changed \u2013 around us and on us and in us. But you haven\u2019t. You\u2019ve been with us the whole time- writing us through, leading us forward, singing us home. We\u2019re not home yet, so you can\u2019t stop singing. We won\u2019t either. Lead the way Emily- show us how to sing while we shake. There might not be a more important thing to show us in this moment. We love you, Amy and Emily. See you on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe tour, announced three weeks ago, begins April 24 in Athens, Ohio, and runs through a Sept. 13 closer in Evanston, Illinois. One of the early dates is a May 14 gig in Los Angeles at the Bellwether. They will be opening for Brandi Carlile at the Gorge in Washington state on May 29 as part of a star-studded bill their famous acolyte has put together.<\/p>\n

\n\tIndigo Girls achieved their initial notoriety when the song \u201cCloser to Fine,\u201d written by Saliers, became an MTV hit in 1989. Although it never had a huge impact at radio, the song has remained an anthem over the last 35 years and was exposed to new generations when it was used prominently for an affectionately comedic scene in the 2023 blockbuster \u201cBarbie\u201d (see Variety\u2018s interview with Saliers<\/a> about the fresh exposure of the tune here<\/a>). The duo was also the subject of a well-reviewed documentary that same year, \u201cIt\u2019s Only Life After All.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n