Biography
Caroline Aiken's path through music reflects years of persistence and hands-on involvement. Recognition came chiefly from the moment she connected Amy Ray with Emily Saliers, forming the Indigo Girls. For more than two decades she remained deeply engaged in the acoustic scenes of Atlanta, Seattle, and Greenwich Village. Her story opened on Georgia's St. Simons Island, where she was born and grew up. Although piano study began at age six and she performed in an Episcopalian church choir, the strongest influence came from the songs her nanny, Emma Lee Ramsey, shared; Ramsey performed with Bessie Jones' Georgia Sea Island Singers.
At fifteen she left home and spent two years on the West Coast. At eighteen she entered the jungles of Central America and joined a cult. Political crackdowns led to a raid on the house where members lived, after which she returned to the United States two weeks later. She first stayed in a remote cabin in Yosemite, California, then revisited St. Simons briefly before settling in Seattle as a street singer. She soon moved on to New York and joined a band. Circumstances shifted once she relocated to Atlanta in the early 1980s. A long-running engagement at Eddie's Attic drew a steady following that included the Indigo Girls. A pivotal break arrived in 1985 when she opened Bonnie Raitt's national tour. Raitt later played slide guitar on Aiken's first album, Line of Vision. Her catalog also contains two live recordings made at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA: Live at the Attic in 1993 and Live Bait in 1995. Onstage she blends her own material with songs by pop-oriented writers such as Elton John, Don Henley, and Gregg Allman. She has likewise produced and hosted Atlanta's annual two-day Dogwood Festival.
Butler Field, her first nationally distributed release, highlights an eclectic style. The Southern boogie-woogie track "Good Intentions" sits alongside the hymn-like title song, which features vocal harmonies and guitar from the Indigo Girls, and the introspective piano ballad "Hotel at Highway One." She followed the debut with the live album Live at the Attic in 1997. Three years afterward she issued Cry Wolf and Writers of Silverwolf.
At fifteen she left home and spent two years on the West Coast. At eighteen she entered the jungles of Central America and joined a cult. Political crackdowns led to a raid on the house where members lived, after which she returned to the United States two weeks later. She first stayed in a remote cabin in Yosemite, California, then revisited St. Simons briefly before settling in Seattle as a street singer. She soon moved on to New York and joined a band. Circumstances shifted once she relocated to Atlanta in the early 1980s. A long-running engagement at Eddie's Attic drew a steady following that included the Indigo Girls. A pivotal break arrived in 1985 when she opened Bonnie Raitt's national tour. Raitt later played slide guitar on Aiken's first album, Line of Vision. Her catalog also contains two live recordings made at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA: Live at the Attic in 1993 and Live Bait in 1995. Onstage she blends her own material with songs by pop-oriented writers such as Elton John, Don Henley, and Gregg Allman. She has likewise produced and hosted Atlanta's annual two-day Dogwood Festival.
Butler Field, her first nationally distributed release, highlights an eclectic style. The Southern boogie-woogie track "Good Intentions" sits alongside the hymn-like title song, which features vocal harmonies and guitar from the Indigo Girls, and the introspective piano ballad "Hotel at Highway One." She followed the debut with the live album Live at the Attic in 1997. Three years afterward she issued Cry Wolf and Writers of Silverwolf.
Albums
