Official Website: dixiechicks.com
The Inside Pulse:
To be Texan is to be country. To be country is to be Republican. To be Republican means to unflinchingly support George W. Bush, if not because he’s Republican, but because he’s from Texas. This theory seems prevalent in Nashville, and stars such as Toby Keith have gained huge measures of fame and fortune because they embraced this policy and became cheerleaders for an administration that has rapidly lost all support elsewhere in the country.
The Dixie Chicks did the opposite. Instead of towing the country line and proclaiming the joys of Bush, beer and other redneck pleasures, the Chicks were tortured for being outspoken about the President, the war, and the direction country radio was taking as a result of all of it. Starting with the “we’re ashamed the President is from Texas” comment in London, the Chicks took all forms of battery and banishment from enraged radio programmers and stuck-in-a-niche rednecks who were angry that someone dare bash the great state of Texas. The funny thing is, they never bashed Texas — they simply said they were ashamed that the President was from Texas. In true country radio fashion, however, Nashville stopped playing them. Country radio stations held parties where, in scenes straight out of George Orwell’s classic 1984, entire Dixie Chicks albums were tossed into a fire and burned while people chanted obscenities about the country darlings who dared speak out about a popular war.
Of course, the war’s not popular anymore. Everyone realizes it was a bad idea, and wishes we could leave Iraq with head held high and avoid another Vietnam situation. A lot of rednecks are still upset at the Chicks, but they’ve returned to the scene with Taking The Long Way, an album that directly abandons Nashville and Music Row for a style that reflects more of The Eagles and 70’s rock than the country and bluegrass leanings of the old Chicks. Produced by Rick Rubin, Taking The Long Way is the Chick’s way of spitting in the face of the country establishment that renounced and abandoned them.
But is it good? Yeah. It’s good. Oh, and country radio is playing them with a passion again, thus proving that you don’t have to abandon your beliefs. The Dixie Chicks stood face to face, nose to nose with Nashville, and Nashville blinked.
Positives:
– The Chicks always were talented, and Rick Rubin is STILL one of the best producers in the industry. His late-career revivals of Johnny Cash, Tom Petty and Neil Diamond were based around the idea that less is more: instead of glossing up the sound and adding layer upon layer of effects and textures, Rubin took the strength of each artist and stripped it down to the bare minimum. He’s done the same thing for the Chicks, choosing to highlight their significant talent on the instruments they play instead of adding gimmick after gimmick like Nashville does these days. The result is a spare, but still beautifully orchestrated record that sounds more relevant anything put out by Music Row in the past ten years. Yes, it does remind you of the Eagles and The Band, but there’s still bits and pieces of bluegrass in there, and given that the Chicks started out as a bluegrass band, it fits.
– You’ll never hear attitude like this from a country band. Instead of apologizing for bashing the president and offending the fragile sensibilities of rednecks everywhere, the band instead sticks up for itself and makes no apologies. It’s acceptable now, of course, because hindsight is 20/20 and everyone who bashed the Chicks when the comments were made have realized that Bush is pretty much the worst President of all time. The Chicks come out roaring, telling the world that they wouldn’t apologize even if they could and that they’re not ready to make nice, and even give album time to the guy who threatened to shoot Natalie Maines in Dallas in late 2004 unless she kept her opinions to herself and just sang. The Chicks, and Maines in particular, do not keep their opinions to themselves on this record, and Taking The Long Way ends up with more of a political slant than Music Row would probably like. But hey, when you’re right, you’re right.
– The chicks teamed up with several outstanding songwriters on this record, including Sheryl Crow, Keb Mo, and former Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson (“Closing Time”).
Negatives:
– This is just a nitpicking thing, really, but I wish they hadn’t included any of their trademark “barn-burners” like “Lubbock Or Leave It”. The best stuff out of these tracks are the cuts when the Chicks do explore that 70’s Eagles-style rock sound, when they branch out and drop the country twang. Granted, the aforementioned song is a redneck-baiting blast of a good time, but I’d rather see them explore the rock/urbanite sound they accomplish with most of this record.
Cross-breed: The Eagles mixed with The Dixie Chicks and a little George Jones and The Band thrown in for good measure.
Reason to Buy: If you’re a country music fan but you’re tired of the Toby Keith, Gretchen Wilson pap that’s been forced on you over the past few years, then you’ll enjoy this.
Proving that they don’t need the Nashville establishment to stay popular, relevant or insanely good, the Chicks return to form with an album that kicks them squarely into the middle of the rock scene while keeping a foot on Music Row. Not quite a classic album, but definitely better than 99% of the stuff coming out of Nashville these days, and a good first step into a more accessible sound.
