Emily Saliers has always sung from a place of honesty. That didn’t change on April 17, when she and Amy Ray sat together on a couch, guitars in hand, and shared something deeply personal with the Indigo Girls community. Saliers revealed she’s been diagnosed with two movement disorders, cervical dystonia and an essential tremor, conditions that have altered her voice and reshaped how the duo approaches their music. It was a moment of quiet courage, and it landed exactly the way it was meant to.
Cervical dystonia, which comes with a condition called torticollis, makes it difficult for Saliers to hold her head centrally without shaking, directly affecting her throat and singing apparatus. The essential tremor impacts her ability to hold a straight tone and has changed the character of her vibrato. “My voice will not be what it was,” she said, tearfully, with Ray beside her offering steady, unwavering support. There’s no cure for either condition, and Saliers isn’t pretending otherwise.
What she is doing is everything possible to keep performing at the highest level she can. Her current treatment includes physical therapy, therapeutic massage, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and Botox injections. She’s also working with a vocal coach who specializes in movement disorders for singers. Joining the duo on their upcoming tour will be singer-songwriter Lucy Wainwright Roche and longtime collaborator Jeff Fielder, both there to help carry the weight of the harmonies and arrangements with care.
The Indigo Girls have been one of the most beloved and enduring acts in American music since forming in Georgia in 1985. Songs like “Closer to Fine,” “Galileo,” and “Power of Two” have found their way into the lives of generations of fans, including a whole new wave after “Closer to Fine” appeared in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie in 2023. That kind of staying power doesn’t come from technical perfection. It comes from truth, and Saliers has never had a shortage of that.
Ray has been, by all accounts, exactly the partner Saliers needs right now. “She’s been super supportive,” Saliers said, patting her friend’s shoulder. The two view the conditions as part of the organic process of aging together as bandmates and as people. “We’re just telling you because we’re going through this year touring,” Ray added, “and we don’t want it to be like, this thing that people are talking about that we’re not talking about.”
That transparency is its own kind of gift. Saliers asked fans for grace, and anyone who has followed the Indigo Girls for any length of time knows that grace is exactly what this community has always had in abundance. The 2026 tour kicks off April 24 in Athens, Ohio. Show up, sing along, and let Emily Saliers hear you.
And put them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame already.