FEATURED MUSIC
Folk Supergroup's Brief Tour Hits NH
Written By Michael Witthaus (music@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy/Stock Photo
On Earth Day 1992, Joan Baez, Mary Chapin Carpenter and the Indigo Girls — Amy Ray and Emily Saliers — performed at Foxboro Stadium in Massachusetts. The same group closed out Newport Folk Festival a few months later, this time with a name, Four Voices in Harmony. It would be their last official show for 25 years.
In February, the Four Voices announced a 10-date tour, with a penultimate stop at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford. In a recent phone interview, Amy Ray talked about the supergroup’s beginnings, performing at Baez’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction and planning for the tour planning.
How did the Four Voices tour come together?
We’d been touring with Joan a little bit over the past couple of years and we’d also done some shows with Chapin, so we were just trying to do something again, all four of us. Then when Joan was going to do the Rock Hall of Fame, she asked us to come and play with her in support of two songs she was doing.
What was it like playing at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
We did “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” which is in our DNA and pretty easy, but we’d never done “Deportees” so we were trying to learn harmonies at the last minute, timing and all that. A big part was nerves; it’s also a huge place. You get awestruck by the bigness of the whole event. We’re not used to that, we just kind of do our thing, but I think that for Joan to get in was a big deal, important and good for women.
Who else do you think should be in there?
Carole King, as a great writer of huge hits - Kate Bush, Sonic Youth. I had a list in my head — Siouxsee and the Banshees are not in there. I try to think of people that directed a vision and a change of culture at some point. Kate Bush is a great example of someone who is massively accomplished, kind of a prodigy, and she really changed things. When you look at women — and men — stylistically as songwriters, she had a massive influence on what is happening today. I was glad to see Pearl Jam get in — they recognized Sleater- Kinney, Brandi Carlile. ... They’re always great at being feminist.
How do you see the current role of protest music?
Well, it’s so different now. Joan and I definitely have those conversations all the time about what the role of the protest song is now, because I think she feels there are not as many people singing in that way, and it’s not the same kind of voice. Songs have a different place in it, and I haven’t figured it out yet. I think it’s important to write about what is going on and talk about it and be informed and still have live performance together because that is how you get energy as people coming together for an event. ... In Joan’s time, in the civil rights era, and all the incredible music that came out of that, the song was the thing to lead people.
Where are those new songs we can sing?
There are still songs out there. I think people are writing them, everybody is. But how do you write that song that galvanizes people and is easy to sing and has a melody and says something that is timeless but can be specific as well? It’s very hard to write a song that catches on like that, and how do you get it to catch on with such a different way of disseminating music and information? Because it’s all these different things going on at one time, and all these different songs. I think that’s good too but it’s hard for everybody to know the same songs right now.
What can people expect at the Four Voices show?
I have no idea. We’re in the beginning stages. I’m sure we’ll do “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” — stuff we have always done. When we’re all up there at the same time, we’ll have five Chapin songs and five Joan songs, six or seven Indigo songs that we all learn together. We’re picking what those are. Then each person has a few solo songs. … We’re just working on what we think would be fun to do.
Four Voices – Joan Baez, Mary Chapin Carpenter & Indigo Girls
When: Friday, June 16, 7 p.m.
Where: Bank of NH Pavilion, 72 MeadowbrookLane, Gilford
Tickets: $29.75-$69.75 at banknhpavilion.com