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| Taking The Long Way 2006 |
661 Miles To Go
"Just so you know we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."
- Natalie Maines, March 10, 2003
That single line of Shepherd's Bush Empire stage banter in England was not Bob Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival.
But, it may have created nearly as big a media tidal wave.
It was a singer/songwriter making an offhanded remark as her country readied for a war in which the world was not convinced of its merit.
But no matter how innocuous the comment, it stymied the commercial and career surge of the Dixie Chicks, the biggest selling all-female band of all time and country music's biggest selling act from the Nielsen SoundScan era that began in 1991.
The Dixie Chicks have sold more than 30 million records worldwide, sold out arenas across the globe and were mainstays of country radio from their 1998 release of Wide Open Spaces until that single remark incited anti-Chick demonstrations, the pulling all of their songs from country radio play lists, and even death threats during their U.S. tour for their third release Home.
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| Lubbock Or Leave It: The Dixie Chicks didn't know they would be remembered with Buddy Holly for a different reason than just this Fall 2000 Texas Music cover. |
But, for all the ill effects, the controversy inspired the Dixie Chicks to release their most personal and inspired record of their catalog and, seven years later, Taking The Long Way (2006) remains a testament to their resolve.
Unlike their previous three releases, all three Chicks - Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire - put "six strong hands on the steering wheel" to share writing credit on every song on the album.
Though not the case with all, most burn white hot with rage and betrayal over an unintended civics class lesson that seems even more impossibly absurd a decade later.
"It's been two long years now," Maines sings on the opening The Long Way Around. "Since the top of the world came crashing down/And I'm getting back on the road now/But I'm taking the long way."
The unquestionable centerpiece, Not Ready To Make Nice, spits as much venom today as it did when it came out and, amazingly, loses none of its sting.
"With no regrets and I don't mind sayin'/It's a sad sad story when a mother will teach her/Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger/And how in the world can the words that I said/Send somebody so over the edge."
Additionally, Easy Silence, Everybody Knows, Bitter End and Lubbock Or Leave It are overtly influenced by the actions and reactions of 2003.
With Silent House and Voice Inside My Head, it's arguable that the lost loves and tough choices are metaphors for those who left the band behind.
Lullaby explores the joys of motherhood, while So Hard cries for the sometimes difficult path to conception.
With muddied expectations at best for country radio to re-embrace the Chicks movement, they turned the production controls over to legendary studio impresario Rick Rubin, the drumming to Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and included a host of recognizable rock names in the backing line-up (John Mayer, Mike Campbell, Keb Mo', Bonnie Raitt, Gary Louris and Benmont Tench among others).
All of this adds up to a more rock than country feel for most of The Long Way and that's not a bad thing.
Maines' lioness of a voice roars, growls and whispers as necessary, while the two-sister fiddle, banjo and strings army of Maguire and Robison meshes in perfect sync with the other players in the posse.
Despite a suspended disbelief for their situation, there is a sense of hope that runs throughout the record on songs such as I Like It, Baby Hold On and the gospel closer I Hope.
Even if no one in the band was "ready to make nice", it sold more than two million copies in the U.S. and won five Grammy Awards.
And, in the Bitter End, the Dixie Chicks left the door open even to those who shut it in their faces.
"Let's raise a glass to the bitter end/Farewell to old friends/We'll still be here when you come 'round again."
Song For The Soundtrack: Voice Inside My Head
Unlike their previous three releases, all three Chicks - Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire - put "six strong hands on the steering wheel" to share writing credit on every song on the album.
Though not the case with all, most burn white hot with rage and betrayal over an unintended civics class lesson that seems even more impossibly absurd a decade later.
"It's been two long years now," Maines sings on the opening The Long Way Around. "Since the top of the world came crashing down/And I'm getting back on the road now/But I'm taking the long way."
The unquestionable centerpiece, Not Ready To Make Nice, spits as much venom today as it did when it came out and, amazingly, loses none of its sting.
 |
| Easy Silence: The tour's "Accidents & Accusations" moniker came from a line in a song that portrayed a less easy tone than its title. |
"With no regrets and I don't mind sayin'/It's a sad sad story when a mother will teach her/Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger/And how in the world can the words that I said/Send somebody so over the edge."
Additionally, Easy Silence, Everybody Knows, Bitter End and Lubbock Or Leave It are overtly influenced by the actions and reactions of 2003.
With Silent House and Voice Inside My Head, it's arguable that the lost loves and tough choices are metaphors for those who left the band behind.
Lullaby explores the joys of motherhood, while So Hard cries for the sometimes difficult path to conception.
With muddied expectations at best for country radio to re-embrace the Chicks movement, they turned the production controls over to legendary studio impresario Rick Rubin, the drumming to Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and included a host of recognizable rock names in the backing line-up (John Mayer, Mike Campbell, Keb Mo', Bonnie Raitt, Gary Louris and Benmont Tench among others).
All of this adds up to a more rock than country feel for most of The Long Way and that's not a bad thing.
Maines' lioness of a voice roars, growls and whispers as necessary, while the two-sister fiddle, banjo and strings army of Maguire and Robison meshes in perfect sync with the other players in the posse.
Despite a suspended disbelief for their situation, there is a sense of hope that runs throughout the record on songs such as I Like It, Baby Hold On and the gospel closer I Hope.
Even if no one in the band was "ready to make nice", it sold more than two million copies in the U.S. and won five Grammy Awards.
And, in the Bitter End, the Dixie Chicks left the door open even to those who shut it in their faces.
"Let's raise a glass to the bitter end/Farewell to old friends/We'll still be here when you come 'round again."
Song For The Soundtrack: Voice Inside My Head
Running Data For Saturday, May 11:
2.80 Miles
30:34
Conversation Stop at Johnny Go's House of Music
2.74 Miles
29:12
Mileage In The Change Jar: 0.58 Miles
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