Sometimes when she writes songs, Amy Ray can hear fellow Indigo Girl Emily Saliers.
The song goes from one voice to two, and Ray knows instinctively which part is hers, which is Saliers'.
When that happens, the song evolves into more of a folk-rock tune, energetic at times and at its center introspective and a bit more contemplative. Sometimes, around those softer edges is a driving political argument — they've rallied for the environment and against the war — that the pair hold near and dear.
Sometimes, Ray hears only one voice, her own. Those songs are more guitar-driven, old-school punk at their core, with a pulsing urgency that is sometimes dark, always very personal.
"I really feel both things," Ray explained in a phone call last month to talk about the Indigo Girls' concert at the Rialto Theatre on Sunday.
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Ray has released two solo albums on a small indie label. She has toured with her punk band, going out for a month or so before regrouping with Saliers.
Indigo Girls is her lifeline; the solo career is for fun.
"My solo career is pretty small, and it doesn't demand a lot of time," she said. "I can do about a month of dates, driving with my band in a van."
Any more than that would take the fun out of it, but Ray confesses standing on that stage alone and assuming the solo side of her musical personality takes her to "a magical place. There's no other thing like it," she said.
Perhaps on Sunday she will play a song or two from her solo material, but mostly she and Saliers will play songs from their 20-year recording career, including tracks from their latest album, "Despite Our Differences."
It is their 10th career record and the first on their new label, Hollywood Records.
Ray said she never thought that she and Saliers would be marking two decades recording together. They've been a duo a few years longer than that if you count the time since they paired up at Emory University in the mid-1980s.
"I don't think we ever thought of it. The story of our career has been small steps, day to day," Ray explained.
"We are what we are. We do the best we can, and we have fun."
Ray says she especially has fun in Tucson. It's been three years since Indigo Girls played an intimate show at the now-closed City Limits, but Ray says Tucson is one of her favorite vacation spots.
"I get a map and get on my bike and go 20 miles out and take lots of water," she said.
Ray lets Saliers pick the restaurants — she's a vegetarian and she loves Mexican food, but don't ask her to name names because she's never taken mental notes. She can tell you about Tucson's thrift stores, though. An avid "junker," she tries to take time out to browse among our used treasures.
"There's some great thrift stores in Tucson," Ray said.
• When: 8 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.
• Tickets: $31-$36, through the Rialto, 740-1000.
• Et cetera: All-ages show features Texas singer-songwriter Terry Hendrix opening.
• Online: Check out audio samples and a video diary from the pair's "Despite Our Differences" recording sessions at www.indigogirls.com.
