Emily Saliers, one-half of the Indigo Girls (alongside Amy Ray), says she’s facing two incurable medical conditions that will affect her vocal performance on the duo’s upcoming tour.
Saliers shared she’s “had this diagnosis for a while” in a post published on the band’s Instagram account on Saturday (April 18). She said “the conditions get incrementally worse over time.”
In a video recorded during tour rehearsals in Atlanta, the artist explained she “wanted to be completely forthcoming” about her experience with cervical dystonia (a neurological movement disorder) and essential tremor (a nervous system disorder).
“Many of you have noticed that my voice — maybe all of you have noticed, it’s pretty noticeable — that my voice is not what it once was,” she said in the clip. “So I wanted to share with you that I’ve 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. So because of the cervical dystonia, my head twists to the right and is misaligned. It can cause shaking of the head. It’s impossible for me to hold my head centrally without shaking, things like that. So structurally, obviously, that is problematic for this whole throat area.”
Saliers continued, “But 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’m unable to make the connections muscularly and structurally because of the essential tremor. What else the essential tremor does is give me this — I am gonna call it horrible, because it’s horrible to me — vibrato that I never used to have. I am completely physically unable to hold a straight tone the way I used to.”
“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,” she said.
The Indigo Girls — whose Swamp Ophelia and Shaming of the Sun albums were top 10 hits on the Billboard 200 in the mid-’90s, who’ve had five albums reach the top 5 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart, and who are Grammy winners, having received the best contemporary folk recording award in 1990 for their self-titled Indigo Girls set — are launching a U.S. tour this week. They kick things off in Athens, Ohio, on Friday (April 24). Dates are scheduled through mid-December.
Saliers detailed her treatment plan, which consists of therapeutic massage, physical therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and Botox shots in her neck and shoulders — all of which can mitigate symptoms. She says she’s also working with a vocal coach with expertise in helping singers who are diagnosed with movement disorders.
“Unfortunately there’s no cure for these, so the honest fact is that my voice will not be what it was,” she said of her diagnoses. “That’s really hard for me. Amy’s 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.”
Later in the video, Saliers shared, “I hate that I’m only 62 and it’s 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.”
Saliers received support from bandmate Ray in the video, as well as many industry peers and fans online.
“You are the definition of authenticity, courage and grace,” Chely Wright, echoing the sentiment of many, said in a comment.
Lifelong fan Brandi Carlile — who covered the Indigo Girls’ “Cannonball” on her 2017 Cover Stories album — shared the duo’s video update on her own Instagram account and wrote, “This is why these two have been my heroes and the only reason I ever picked up a guitar. Being an @indigogirls 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. To say we have Emily’s back is the understatement of the century. If you love to sing, Emily, sing. We will be there singing with you. We are the luckiest fans in the world – we know our verses, and we know the words to every song. Let’s sing them back at the Indigo Girls louder than ever.”
