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November 23, 2009
Indigo Girls’ Saliers, prison choir to perform at Candler

By Laurel Hanna

Candler School of Theology will host the Metro State Women’s Prison choir and special guest Emily Saliers ’85C in Cannon Chapel on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 11 a.m. to celebrate the release of the choir’s first CD. Titled “Voices of Hope,” the CD was recorded in Cannon Chapel in 2008. Saliers, a member of the Grammy-winning duo the Indigo Girls, provided financial backing and musical collaboration to produce the CD.

The Nov. 24 service of praise and thanksgiving will feature the choir’s performance of many songs on the CD, which includes classical songs, such as “Joyful, Joyful”; traditional gospel, such as “King Jesus Will Roll All Burdens Away”; and contemporary hymns, such as “Perfect Praise.”

The choir is led by the Rev. Susan Bishop ’75T, a Candler alumna and chaplain at Metro State. Bishop has served as the chaplain at the prison for more than 25 years and also has a master’s degree in music education.

Bishop said the recording, which is the first for a prison choir in Georgia and one of only a few in the nation, has given the participants a sense of accomplishment and offered them an opportunity to give back to the community. Proceeds from the sale of the CD go toward a program that brings children to visit their mothers at the prison.

“It says to me that everyone–no matter where you are–can find a place of service,” Bishop said.