The Chicks

One Liner: One of the finest country bands of all time

Wikipedia Genre: Country, bluegrass, country pop
Home: Dallas (but of course likely Nashville now)

Poster Position: Headliner!

Both Weekends.  Friday.

Thoughts:  I love the Chicks.  I loved them more back when they were the Dixie Chicks crushing all expectations and making those first three amazing albums.  I loved them when they insulted George W. Bush and got cancelled by all the rednecks (who seem to have forgotten about their love of cancelling now that they are griping about the Donald getting cancelled).  I definitely loved that they were a band that both my wife and I enjoyed, so we could agree on something to listen to.  I didn't love the new album, but what are you gonna do?

Let's do some background here.  You probably know all of this, but just for completism.  The band was formed in Dallas back in 1989 by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer (previously Erwin) with two other ladies, mainly sticking with a bluegrass sound.  They gained some notoriety, winning "best band" at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and scoring opening slots for Garth Brooks and George Strait. They released a few independent albums, each of which featured steel guitar by stud player and producer Lloyd Maines.  So, when the other two ladies decided to move on from the band, Maines suggested his daughter, Natalie, to take on the lead singer role.  And thus, the current lineup was born.

Martie was the violin virtuoso, placing in the top three twice at the national fiddle championships.  She also handles some guitar and mandolin.  Emily is the guitar wizard, with a little banjo tossed in here and there.  All three of them sing, but it is Natalie who you are usually hearing with the lead vocals, and the other two add in their killer harmonies to make the whole thing work.  Sounds so good.

Loads of success.  Multiplatinum records.  13 Grammys.  The best-selling female band and best-selling country group in the US in the Nielsen SoundScan era.  Crushing it.  And then in 2003, they were playing a concert in London and Natalie told the crowd that they were ashamed of US President George W Bush being from Texas.  That triggered country music boycotts and record burnings and a bunch of other deeply stupid crap.  But it also left room for the Chicks to take a break to allow the Erwin sisters to make their very good Courtyard Hounds album.  After a long break, they reunited to tour around 2012 and 2013, and finally released a new album in 2020, about the time they dropped Dixie from their name.

The Dixie Chicks name came from the Little Feat song "Dixie Chicken," which is a great song.  But in the 2020 political climate, just using the word Dixie became something tinged with negative connotations and thus something for dopes to get worked up about.  So, now they are just the Chicks.

I've been re-listening to the first three albums, and I'm having trouble deciding which is my favorite.  At first, I thought it had to be the debut, 1998's Wide Open Spaces.  But I think that album is carried by the title song, which is my favorite song they do.  Do I love the rest of the album as much?  "I Can Love You Better" is a great leadoff track though!  Then I figured it would be 1999's Fly, because that one was released just out of college and it holds so many good memories for me.  "Ready to Run," Cowboy Take Me Away," and "Goodbye Earl" all rule.  Especially "Earl."  But it feels like the last few songs could have been left off and make the album stronger.  So then I'm left with 2002's Home, which has two absolutely killer covers on it, but then doesn't do a ton with the rest of the tracks.  "Travelin' Soldier," which is a Bruce Robison tune, is devastating and perfect.  I love it.  And "Landslide" is another wonderful tune in the Chicks' hands.  I think I'll give the favorite label to the debut.  I mean, "Loving Arms" is beautiful, "There's Your Trouble" is clever, "Let 'Er Rip" is fun.  It's just a really great disc of unexpectedly cool country music.  And you also get the added benefit of the cover image for the album, which looks like two hot friends finished their day jobs bartending at the coolest bar in Nashville and then picked up their goth cousin at the bus station to show her the best comic book store in The Gulch.  But, let's do some of these songs in here.

"Wide Open Spaces," the number 3 streamer at 112.7 million streams.

Oh wow.  That video, and those fake ass overly blue eyes, and the superimposed trampoline flying?  Those are really something.  But the harmonies, the lyrics, the fiddle and banjo and steel guitar - it all just comes together just right.  And the reality and perfection of the last verse gets me every time - "as her folks drive away, her dad yells check the oil, mom stares out the window and says I'm leaving my girl.  She said it didn't seem like that long ago, when she stood there, and let her own folks know she needed wide open spaces."  

"Cowboy Take Me Away" is the second-most streamer.  136.6 million streams.  From Fly.

Also a good one, although it makes me think of Julia Roberts movies for some reason.  Was it featured in the Runaway Bride or something?  No, that was "Ready to Run."  Hmmm.  More killer harmonies, and excellent work on that banjo.

About a million years ago, I was at a music festival of sorts that was being held in the Dallas mansion, Southfork Ranch.  There was (is?) a radio station in Dallas that played supremely great Texas country and Americana stuff that I really liked, and they put on a little music festival inside of the Southfork.  I have no recollection of who was there, and I'm certain that the Dixie Chicks were not playing, but I am certain that Charlie Robison, Emily's then-husband and now ex, was one of the headliners.  One of the guys I was with had the balls to go ask Emily to dance (the show was in a big ballroom with a dance floor included), during her husband's set, and she actually said yes and danced with him.  Legend.  Many years later I actually helped represent Emily and Charlie in a legal claim.  The world just keeps turning, doesn't it?

The top streamer in their catalog is that "Landslide" cover from Home.  154.8 million streams.

Going freaky with that video.  Trippy water drop action!  Those effects super suck!  Martie has gone goth!  Emily is pregnant!  But a beautiful version of that song.  Crushes the streaming numbers for a reason, they kill it.  "Lil Jack Slade" is a good bluegrass breakdown from that album as well.

The next album was 2006's Taking the Long Way, which was their big F YOU record to everyone who had attacked them for the Dubya dustup.  The top song is the imminently angry "Not Ready to Make Nice," with 85.4 million streams.

Her best look of all of the videos linked here.  Not my favorite song from the album at all, I prefer the title track (which also has a little nastiness to it, with lines like "I wouldn't kiss all the asses they told me to") or "Easy Silence" by far.  But I'm sure people use it as shorthand now the same way they use "I Won't Back Down" or "Respect."  This was their statement song for sure.  But, after that no new music for 14 years (except for a live album and a compilation).

Then, here comes the name change and the very 2020 album.  Even the title.  Gaslighter.  I really want to love this album, but after a handful of listens I'm pretty ambivalent about it.  First off, this ain't country.  And I know that shouldn't be surprising, they've been angling away from that work for a while, but the use of drum machines ("Julianna Calm Down," with a drum machine and forlorn organ instead of banjo and fiddle) and one song that is more or less a rap ("Tights on My Boat") are both surprising moves from these ladies.  And I'm sure changing their name to step away from the potential racist connotations of "Dixie" is likewise carried along by distancing themselves from the country establishment in general.  But more importantly, the album as a whole seems to be focused on personal issues, and less on the broadly pleasing story-telling, catchy tunes, and humor-with-insight that made them amazingly compelling back on their first two albums.  I think back to "Wide Open Spaces" or "Goodbye Earl," and I'm immediately happy about the feelings those great songs evoke.  But I think back to what I remember after 10 or so streams through this album and what I recall are Natalie's multiple mentions of some damn boat where her husband must have cheated on her.  Which isn't really all that interesting in the end, except to the TMZ folks who want the tea spilled.  And it's so specific - I can't relate to the issues they're singing about.

Their harmonies are still lovely.  The banjo picking is still technically proficient and well-placed.  But it feels like they put this out to show that they still aren't ready to make nice, but now none of us even remember why they were mad in the first place.  The lead single and title track kind of bugs me - I think I'm tired of hearing the term gaslighting because I over-scroll Twitter - and I'm sure it was cathartic to Natalie to call out her ex-husband for being a lying jerk, but the song isn't catchy enough to make me want to dig in.  And if it was catchy enough, then I could apply it to my own life - the liars that I might have to deal with - but in the end I just think about the dumb boat and that annoying term.  That track is the top streamer on Spotify at 40.2 million streams, but I'm going to give you second place instead, "Sleep at Night," with 10.5 million.

The chorus makes me think of "HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW!" from Toby Keith each time she sings it.  Also, her ex-husband truly sounds like a piece of shit.  Even if I don't much care about knowing about it.  Maybe they'll release another album next that isn't quite so directly aimed at the balls of her old man.  Despite not caring about the subject matter so much, that one is a good song.  "Everybody Loves You" makes me think repeatedly of Coldplay - there is a piano lick lifted directly from "Trouble" and it throws me off each time.  I know that "March March" is saying the word "march," but I keep hearing "Marge Marge" and I think of the Simpson's mom angrily marching down a Portland street to protest all of the random things that they sing about in this song.  I think that normally I would gravitate to their big songs, but on this album, it's the quiet songs that are more appealing.  But, despite really wishing that this was going to be the next big thing on my radar, I don't much care for this album.  Hopefully something better is on the horizon.

Which makes me curious - what do their setlists look like these days?  And the answer is kind of a bummer.  Their last show had 10 tunes from Gaslighter, 4 covers, 3 each from Fly and Taking the Long Way, and 2 each from Home and Wide Open Spaces.  Ruh roh.  The show before that had one less cover and one less from Wide Open Spaces but was otherwise the same.  Dang, seeing them at Red Rocks would have been dope.  Their setlists look almost identical on this tour - Sin Wagon, Gaslighter, Texas Man, Juliana Calm Down, The Long Way Around...  I guess my hope would be that they'll do a different show for a Festival crowd?  Fingers crossed.  I'm absolutely going to go see them - zero question in my mind - but I sure hope they go with the old tunes over the new disc.