Indigo Girls: It's Only Life After All

A quick behind the scenes look at over thirty years of The Indigo Girls. I'm one of those kids whose mothers was an indigo girls fan in college and thus at 12 years old they became my first concert. Over ten years later I had the honor of sitting down and watching an inside look at their career and lives on the road. The film is so well crafted by the end I felt like I had been a fan their entire careers. I learned so much about the girls and my love of them has only grown exponentially. I had no idea what to expect with this documentary but it was so thoughtfully and beautifully crafted. I can't wait to watch again.

This is a biography of the Indigo Girls, the lesbian folk-rock duo. With archival footage, interviews with the Girls and some with associates and fans, it explores their their history and music, as well as their various activist projects. These include their covid-era Zoom fundraising productions. Their personal life is included, including marriage and motherhood for one, and a potential more-than-tomboy identity for the other. While they somewhat resent being ignored by the mainstream music industry, they have rabid LGBT fans, for whom their songs became personal anthems.

This documentary featured a lot of their songs, which ran not just as concert pieces, but also as a background soundtrack. I was not well acquainted with their music, but did find it interesting. I saw this at the Inside Out 2SLGBT+ Film Festival, basically as a prelude to the showing of Glitter and Doom, a musical that featured Indigo Girls songs. I was happy that I did.

It did seem that the title was based on a motto that the Girls used.

This is a well-crafted overview of the remarkable and under-appreciated work of a duo with careers of importance and endurance--but that has been consistently discounted and overlooked because of their status as queer women.

Archival footage and historical media coverage help to contextualize the arc of Indigo Girls history. Their evolution as performers and activists is illustrated. Some peeks into their private lives are provided.

It was a lovely tribute to steady performers who picked an unusual path through American popular music, and although it might lack the drama and pathos of the behavior of hair band boys, that's only life after all.

It's Only Life After All chronicles the lives and music of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, who met in grade school, began singing together in high school, and started recording in their early 20s (the late 80s). In addition to the music, the documentary covers their lifelong friendship, lesbian sexual identities, and involvement in many social justice and environmental causes. Both women are incredibly revealing and honest, especially when Emily describes her life as a recovering alcoholic and Amy opens up about her lifelong sexual identity confusion. Also poignant are their struggles to overcome discrimination in their personal lives and musical career.

A minor quibble I have with the documentary is its implication that the Indigo Girls mainly appeal to LGBTQ people. I don't have any number counts, but I know that their best songs have universal appeal and are personal anthems for me and many of my straight friends. Another quibble is that the story jumps around in time (which seems to be in vogue for documentaries now) and wastes too much time on the women hanging out at home or practicing in the studio.

Overall, the documentary is an interesting portrait of two women who have establish an enduring friendship, activist achievements, and musical legacy.