The Dixie Chicks have come a long way in four short years.<\/p>\n
It was in 1998 that they released
\nWide Open Spaces<\/i>, their first album with new lead singer
\nNatalie Maines after three independently released discs that barely
\nregistered on the Nashville radar screen. Maines had just been
\nrecruited into the band by founding members and sisters Emily
\nRobison (banjo\/dobro\/harmony vocals) and Martie Maguire
\n(fiddle\/harmony vocals).<\/p>\n
The road since then has been a rollercoaster ride to say the
\nleast. In those four years, the trio from Texas sold about a
\nzillion copies of the radio-friendly
\nWide Open Spaces<\/i> and
\nFly<\/i>, its somewhat sassier follow-up; won an armful of
\ncountry music awards; courted controversy with songs like “Goodbye
\nEarl,” a lively tune about murdering an abusive husband; sued their
\nmusic label (Sony); got married; had a baby; settled the lawsuit;
\nand came roaring back with
\nHome<\/i>.<\/p>\n
While on hiatus (and in court), the Dixie Chicks started
\nrecording a few things at home, almost on a lark. While their first
\ntwo albums together had featured a slicked-up, full-band, modern
\nNashville sound, the new material took shape free from the label’s
\nwatchful eye in a more organic setting. With no drums and precious
\nlittle electric guitar, Home’s sound relies heavily on the playing
\nof Chicks themselves, along with Natalie’s father, steel guitar
\nlegend Lloyd Maines, and a small group of loyal sidemen for
\nsupport.<\/p>\n
The end result flirts heavily with bluegrass without ever
\ncommitting. As much as the Chicks clearly love this most
\ntraditional form of country music, their pop instincts are too
\nstrong to ignore. What you get, then, is some of the most
\nvigorously played, melodic, high-spirited, mostly acoustic country
\nmusic you’ll ever be lucky enough to hear. Darrell Scott’s “Long
\nTime Gone” is the perfect kick-off (and first single), a frothy
\nrant against narrow-minded music industry types that’s full of
\nallusions to old-line country icons like Johnny Cash and
\naccusations that “the music ain’t got no soul” anymore.<\/p>\n
As a bonus, “Long Time Gone” and the touching (if predictable)
\nstory-song “Travelin’ Soldier” offer a sustained taste of the real
\nsecret to the Chicks’ appeal. Not only are sisters Maguire and
\nRobison fabulous players, their achingly pretty harmony vocals form
\nthe perfect backdrop for Natalie Maines’ stunningly rich, powerful
\nlead voice. In terms of pure vocal talent, she’s the Natalie
\nMerchant of country, hands down.<\/p>\n
Still, what was most notable on this album to me was the
\nmusicianship on display. Never mind the strong melody lines Robison
\nand Maguire play on upbeat tracks like “Truth No. 2” (from Patty
\nGriffin) and “Tortured, Tangled Hearts”; check out the lightning
\npicking and bowing on the brutally on-target (and strangely
\ntouching) “White Trash Wedding.” Acknowledging the sisters’ chops,
\nrenowned mandolin prodigy Chris Thile of Nickel Creek sits in for
\nnot one but three tracks, the heartfelt ballads “A Home” and “More
\nLove,” and the rip-roaring instrumental “Lil’ Jack Slade.”<\/p>\n
\nHome<\/i> was clearly a labor of love for the Dixie Chicks, a
\nfirst breath of renewal after their lengthy tussle with Sony. The
\nfact that the album is a steady number one right now on the country
\ncharts and holding strong on the pop charts as well tells you all
\nyou need to know about who won the musical side of the argument. A
\nbelt buckle shown in the album’s packaging says it all: “CHICKS
\nRULE.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6109],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37463","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dixie-chicks","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37463"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37463"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}