Indigo Girls CD “Rites of Passage”

Fans of Georgia duo Indigo Girls are dedicated to this act for very specific reasons: there's the rare (bordering on brilliant) harmonies and counter melodies, the seemingly effortless acoustic guitar playing, and a host of emotionally cathartic lyrics that make the listener feel like they've been reading someone's diary. That said, the Girls reached a point around the time of this album where opening up their souls for song perhaps felt less appealing than general storytelling. Does that make the music bad? No, but it is decidedly different; 1992's Rites of Passage comes off more as a musical jam than a night alone in front of a campfire. The Roches, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, and Lisa Germano all contribute to that effect, providing a musically interesting but perhaps emotionally less challenging effort than some of the duo's earlier works. --Denise Sheppard