''Swamp Ophelia'' is the fifth studio album by the

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duet (music), duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in Primary school, elementary school and began performing together as Secondary school, hig ...

, released in 1994.

Track listing

Personnel

;Indigo Girls *

Amy Ray Amy Elizabeth Ray (born April 12, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls with Emily Saliers. She also pursues a solo career, releasing ten albums under her own name, and founded the independent ...

- vocals, acoustic and electric guitar (lead on Fugitive, rhythm elsewhere) *

Emily Saliers Emily Ann Saliers (born July 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the musical duo Indigo Girls. Saliers sings soprano and plays lead guitar as well as banjo, piano, mandolin, ukulele, bouzouki and many other instruments. Ea ...

- vocals, acoustic, classical and electric guitar (rhythm and lead), bouzouki ;Musicians *

Jerry Marotta Jerome David Marotta (born February 6, 1956) is an American drummer who resides in Woodstock, New York. He is the younger brother of Rick Marotta; Rick is also a drummer and composer. Career Marotta was a member of the bands Arthur, Hurley & ...

- drums (all except 10 & 11), percussion, bongos, African drums, marimba *

Sara Lee Sara may refer to: People * Sara (given name), a feminine given name People with the given name * Sara Aboobacker (1936–2023), Indian writer and translator * Sara Ahmed (born 1969), British-Australian writer * Sara Allgood (1880–1950), Ir ...

- bass (all except 9–11) *Michael Lorant - drums (11), guest/backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 8, 11) *Jan Dykes - bass (6, 11) *

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Ma ...

- acoustic bass (4, 5, 7, 8) *

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (19 ...

- Chapman stick (9) *

Chuck Leavell Charles Alfred Leavell (born April 28, 1952) is an American musician. A member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the pri ...

- piano (1, 3, 5), chimes (1) *John Mark Painter - baritone guitar (1), flugelhorn (1, 5, 6), accordion (2), string arrangement (6, 11), electric guitar (11) *

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Batt created the novelty pop band T ...

- string and woodwind arrangement, conductor on "The Wood Song" *Connie Grauer - melodica, bass synthesizer (9) *Kim Zick - triangle, snare, tom tom, timpani (9) *

Lisa Germano Lisa Ruth Germano (born June 27, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Indiana. Her album '' Geek the Girl'' (1994) was named one of the best albums of the 1990s by ''Spin'' magazine. She began her career as a viol ...

- penny whistle (1), mandolin (1, 4, 5), violin (4, 7, 8) * Jane Scarpantoni, Anthony Lamarchina - cello *

Jo-El Sonnier Jo-El Sonnier (; born Joel Sonnier; October 2, 1946 – January 13, 2024) was an American singer-songwriter and accordionist who performed country music and Cajun music. Originally signed to Mercury Nashville Records, Sonnier charted several min ...

- accordion (2) *Bill Newton - chromatic harmonica (5) *James Hall - trumpet (1, 6) *David Davidson, Sheila Doyle, Christian Teal - violin *Kristin Wilkinson - viola *

Jane Siberry Jane Siberry ( ; ; born 12 October 1955) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known for such hits as "Mimi on the Beach", "I Muse Aloud", "One More Colour" and "Calling All Angels (Jane Siberry song), Calling All Angels". She performed the theme so ...

(3),

The Roches The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey. Career In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry" ...

(4, 8), Sam "Shake" Anderson (5), Larry Ray Sr. (9) - backing vocals

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review noted that "Amy Ray and Emily Saliers continue to hone their signature lush melodies .... The Indigo Girls are no longer afraid to hit upon past relationships and personal emotion. Saliers and Ray's incredible harmonies are most stylish .... t the duo also move beyond the sweet and tender by dipping into darker realms .... This album is another humanistic effort from the Indigo Girls' deep and indwelling passions and ideas." In 2015, the Indigo Girls were invited by

Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best-known as the primary songwriter and Lead vocalist, frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. He is also a member o ...

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

to perform ''Swamp Ophelia'' in its entirety at the inaugural

Eaux Claires Eaux Claires, also known as the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival, was a two-day music and arts festival that took place for four years in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The festival took what was to be a year-long hiatus in 2019 but was expected to r ...

festival, which Vernon founded. Vernon has written that ''Swamp Ophelia'' was one of his sister Kim's favorite albums, and after she urged him to listen to it, it became one of his as well.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number nine on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and it spent 26 weeks on the chart. It was certified Platinum in the Us with sales of 1 million copies.

Covers

David Crosby covered "Fare Thee Well" on the B-side to his 1993 single

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

. The British mother-and-daughter folk duo Chris and Kellie While covered "Power of Two" on their self-titled 2004 album. In 2009,

Michael Feinstein Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music Revivalist artist, revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Spec ...

covered "Power of Two" in his nightclub act and studio album '' The Power of Two'' with

Cheyenne Jackson Cheyenne David Jackson (born July 12, 1975) is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings. After beginn ...

, using the song's title for both the album and act as well. In 2010, Filipino pop rock singer

Aiza Seguerra Ice Seguerra (born Cariza Yamson Seguerra; 17 September 1983), formerly Aiza Seguerra, is a Filipino actor, singer-songwriter, director and guitarist. Initially coming out as a lesbian in 2007, Seguerra also came out as a transgender man i ...

also covered the song. In 2012, Filipino acoustic pop singer

Nyoy Volante Niño del Mar Coching Volante (born January 25, 1978), better known as Nyoy Volante (), is a Filipino acoustic pop singer-songwriter and actor. Early life and education Nyoy Volante was born as Niño del Mar Coching Volante on January 25, 1978 ...

and his acoustic band, "Rhythmic Circle" also covered the song on the OPM pop compilation album ''90's Music Comes Alive''.

References

1994 albums Indigo Girls albums Albums produced by Peter Collins (record producer) Epic Records albums {{1990s-rock-album-stub