Amy Ray is half of one of rock's classic female duos, the Indigo Girls, but when not performing with her other half, Emily Saliers, Ray is a solo artist in her own right. If the Indigo Girls are credited with uniting rock and folk music, then Ray's solo work deviates into the realm of punk while still maintaining the outspoken activist style that fans love.Ray and Saliers met while in high school and were soon frontrunners in the Atlanta music scene, thanks to the popularity of the 1981 basement recording Tuesday's Children. The Indigo Girls didn't remain as an independent act, though, as Epic Records signed the female rockers in 1988, around the same time that folk-rock was entering the mainstream with acts like Suzanne Vega, 10,000 Maniacs and Tracy Chapman. Although opposites in the style department, the feisty Ray and dreamy Saliers garnered a dedicated fan base that translated into countless awards and millions in record sales. Through it all, they never lost the reason they started playing music in the first place, expressing themselves politically, spiritually, and creatively.In 1990 Ray started Daemon Records, a non-profit label designed to give back to an industry that had embraced her by supporting grassroots artists through the perpetuation of independent artists in Atlanta and throughout the country. Ray was inspired to embark on a solo career in 2001 after helping artists like Rose Polenzani, Three Finger Cowboy and ph Balance launch their careers through Daemon. Her aptly titled debut Stag saw Ray exercising her right to freedom of speech by exclaiming her own social and political views through her lyrics, in true Indigo Girls form. Prom followed in 2005 and she continued to practice self-exploration of gender constructs and social structure in her 2008 record, Didn't It Feel Kinder.