One more FM reference - Dixie Chicks review

[Livia]

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/14645204.htm


The Dixie Chicks are back

By JONATHAN TAKIFF
takiffj@phillynews.com 215-854-5960

The back stories are almost as fascinating as the music with some CD releases hitting stores today.

Dixie Chicks' "Taking the Long Way" (Open Wide/Columbia, A-)is their first album since front singer Natalie Maines expressed shame over fellow Texan George W. Bush's instigation of war in Iraq. As you may recall, reactionary commentators were quick to damn the Chicks, country radio abruptly stopped playing its biggest group, and threats on the band members' lives grew so serious that Maines had to relocate to California.

From the first notes of the lead track "The Long Way Around," it's clear that the Chicks have also relocated their stylistic and emotional purview, perhaps in an effort to trade that old constituency for another, less reactionary one.

They've always been more than just a bluegrass-tinged, fiddle and banjo playing country trio. Now that twang element has been submerged into a more polished, personal and sometimes hard-cranking package that evokes California rock of the 1970s. The clearest references are to Fleetwood Mac - whom the group honored previously with a cover of "Landslide."

Why, even their new photos show the trio transformed, looking way more glamorous in an L.A. kinda way.

Themes of breaking loose, moving on, staying true to their code and finding personal peace are all over this autobiographical disc, on earnest and impassioned songs which Maines and her fellow Chicks Emily Robison and Martie Maquire had a hand in writing, along with some stellar guns for hire. The latter were brought in by producer Rick Rubin (yeah, the hip hop/hard rock legend who also made Johnny Cash "cool" again.)

Gary Louris (of The Jayhawks) is partly responsible for the haunting Celtic waltz "Bitter End" - their bittersweet "farewell to old friends" - as well as their cult of personality put-down "Everybody Knows."

Dan Wilson (of Semisonics, a personal fave), helped score the Mac-ish "The Long Way Around" and the gorgeous "Lullaby" (dedicated to the sets of twins which sisters Emily and Martie each had by in vitro fertilization, also the subject of another album track "So Hard.") This songwriter also helped power-up the horn-flecked anthem "Not Ready to Make Nice" - the Chicks most blatant, middle-finger salute to their critics. ("I paid a price and I'll keep paying.")

An even better statement song, though, is "Lubbock or Leave It," a fiery, fiddle- and organ-driven twang rocker co-written with Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers.) This one condemns the narrow minds of small town folk who try to keep their kids in the dark about sex.

Also tapped for writing assists were Sheryl Crow and Linda Perry (both with mixed results), Neil Finn (for the haunting "Silent House" which touches on the trio's Alzheimer's-inflicted relatives) and Pete Yorn (the keeping it together "Baby Hold On"). And capping the set, quite well, singer/player Keb' Mo helps to serve "I Hope" - a tender prayer to "learn from our history and do it differently."