The awkward experience of high school made Amy Ray feel like an outsider. The singer faced and overcame adolescent insecurities, but unlike most people, she’s decided to revisit them.

Ray, who also makes up one-half of the Indigo Girls, is touring the country in support of her second solo album “Prom,” which tackles the issues of suicide, sexual identification and homophobia during adolescence.

“In general, there are people who feel like outsiders,” says Ray, who was openly gay as a teenager. “I can relate. I know what it’s like.”

Today, Ray says she is a supporter of what she calls the “Queer movement.”

“I think that it’s relevant whether you’re gay or straight,” Ray says. “It’s a potential bridge between gay and straight. I just hope one day that gender won’t matter.”

Ray is coming to the Ames area at an appropriate time, as National Coming Out Days took place last week. She says she likes the idea of the event, because coming out of the closet can be a scary thing.

“I think that it’s good that there is an alliance and camaraderie that is helping others through it,” Ray says.

To Ray, the movement made her want to incorporate some of the issues that are present into her songs.

“It’s reality,” she says. “I’ll be talking to my neighbor one day, and I’ll think, ‘There’s a song.’ I write through their eyes.”

Ray writes all the lyrics for both the Indigo Girls and her solo albums.

She says it isn’t hard to decide whether a song fits best into her solo albums or with Emily Saliers, the other member of Indigo Girls.

“It’s an instinct,” she says. “If I’m writing an Indigo song, I can hear the harmony. I can sense Emily’s presence.”

Ray says the album was partially inspired by her cousin who passed away.

“It was a catalyst for the songs,” she says. “I just kept writing, and a lot of the songs fell into the area of high school.”

Ray says she is inspired to write songs about her friends and the stories they tell her. “Prom,” however, was more difficult to write than her previous album, she says.

“On the last album, I had more time,” Ray says. “On this album, I just had to work a little more. I did a lot of comparing to the last album.”

Despite the difficulties of writing the album, Ray says performing the songs is a lot easier.

She says the tour is going well and the audiences are responsive. – pumping herself up before a show isn’t difficult.

“I just jump around for a bit,” she says. “Sometimes I’ll make a set list and go over it with the band. I’m not really a ritualistic person.”