Indigo Girls Singer Emily Saliers Shared Details of Her Voice-Related Illnesses With "No Cure"

Days before the Indigo Girls were set to kick off their 2026 tour around the United States, they posted a TikTok featuring both Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, where Emily explains two illnesses she was diagnosed with that affect her voice. She explains what she was diagnosed with, how it might change music for her long-term, and what it means for the band's planned tour.

Emily and Amy formed Indigo Girls in the '80s, when they came up with a folk-rock sound that has managed to remain steady for decades and was a big part of the female rock movement in the '90s. So much so that the 2023 Barbie movie features their 1989 hit song "Closer to Fine." The women were trailblazers as LGBTQ+ artists, and they continue to make music today. But what do Emily's diagnoses mean moving forward?

In the TikTok video, Emily and Amy are on a couch holding their guitars. Amy remains silent as Emily speaks and explains what she was diagnosed with and how her illnesses affect her voice now. Emily points out how some fans might have already heard a difference in her voice. She says it's due to a couple of health issues that she wants everyone to be aware of.

"It's pretty noticeable that my voice is not what it once was, so I wanted to share with you that I've been diagnosed with two movement disorders," Emily says. "One is called cervical dystonia with torticollis, which basically is in the part of my brain that controls movement. And in other people with this condition, the brain sends signals to tighten muscles in our neck [and shoulder area and the torticollis is the twist. So, because of the cervical dystonia, my head twists to the right and is misaligned, it can cause shaking of the head."

She added that it is now "impossible" for her to hold her head straight without it shaking.

"The essential tremor causes involuntary shakes or movement, and it affects all the parts of my singing apparatus," she explains, "the larynx, the pharyngeal muscles, my jaw, and my diaphragm, from which I get all the air for singing. So I'm unable to make the connections, muscularly and structurally, because of the essential tremor."

Emily is being medically treated, and she is even seeing a vocal coach who specializes in these disorders with singers. So she is doing everything she can to make sure she can still sing and perform. But, she says in the TikTok, she can no longer hold the straight notes with Amy that she used to, and she knows that's a big part of their sound that fans have loved over the years.

Despite Emily's diagnoses, she says they are still looking forward to their tour, which was set to kick off at the end of April 2026 in Athens, Ohio.

"I just hope that you can have some grace with my struggles for this particular touring year," Emily says in the video. "We're gonna work hard to make it good and then whatever the future holds, we'll see."