The Chicks return with first new album in 14 years 'Gaslighter'
Country music legends The Chicks (formally known as The Dixie Chicks) have returned with their first new album in 14 years, Gaslighter.
The Chicks are one of the most successful and influential groups of all time. Selling over 30.5 million albums makes them the biggest selling all female US group in music history, and their critical acclaim matches their commercial success with 13 Grammy Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, four American Music Awards, and 10 Country Music Association Awards to their name.
It has been far from an easy or smooth road for The Chicks though, comprising of lead Natalie Maines and sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire. Originally formed by Strayer and Maguire in 1989 in Dallas, Texas with two other bandmates, Maines joined the band in 1995 just as the band signed a major record label with Sony after years of releasing unsuccessful independent albums. In 1998, the new lineup released their first album in the form of Wide Open Spaces which became a massive hit, peaking at number 1 on the US Country charts, number 4 on the mainstream US Billboard Album charts and sold over 13 million copies in the US alone. It also broke into the top 40 in Australia and charted worldwide. The band’s following three albums all hit number one on both the US country and mainstream album charts with their biggest success internationally coming with 2006’s Taking The Long Way which hit number 2 in Australia and the top 10 in the UK.
They are impressive statistics given the band’s treatment by both the media and the public. For much of their career the band have had to fight against a patriarchal country music establishment which considered them unimportant because they were women. As Maines recently told the New York Times “They accepted us because we made them a lot of money, but they didn’t get us or like us.” And then in 2003, they were infamously subjected to one of the worst displays of misogyny the music industry has witnessed after Maines, in reference to America’s recent invasion of Iraq, said at a London concert “We’re ashamed the president of the United States [George W. Bush] is from Texas.” In today’s American political environment, it is a comment that would not even raise an eyebrow, but in 2003 it produced mass hysteria. The Chicks received death threats, were banned from country radio, former fans staged mass album burning rallies and fellow country performer Toby Keith started performing with a mock up of Maines embracing Saddam Hussein as his stage backdrop.
Their first album after the furore, 2006’s Taking The Long Way, referenced their treatment in the preceding three years with the band singing on the hit single ‘Not Ready To Make Nice’: “Forgive sounds good / Forget I'm not sure I could / They say time heals everything / But I'm still waiting”. And while the album was a massive commercial and critical success - The Chicks won all 5 categories they were nominated in at the 2007 Grammy Awards - the way they had been treated and the recording of the album took its toll. “The stakes were so high,” Strayer told The New York Times. “This song had to be perfect; this line had to be just-so.” In the same interview, Maines admitted that after recording the album, she was done. “I was tired,” she said. “I just wanted to raise my kids.” The misogynistic treatment of The Chicks, in effect snuffing out the career of one of the most successful female groups of all time, is one of the most disgraceful stains in the history music industry and it goes without saying that if a male artist had uttered the same words criticising Bush as Maines, the result would have been entirely different. For years, the band were even used as a warning for not what to do for female artists in the music industry. Taylor Swift recently acknowledged that her often criticised reluctance to speak up on political matters was directly related to the treatment meted out to The Chicks for speaking their mind. “Throughout my whole career, label executives and publishers would say, ‘Don’t be like the Dixie Chicks,’” she revealed in her recent Netflix documentary Miss Americana.
Taking The Long Way could easily have been The Chicks last album. In the years following its release, Maines released a solo album while Maguire and Robison released two albums as the duo Court Yard Hounds. But in 2018, after Maines went through a divorce from her husband she released she “had a lot to say” and Gaslighter, orginally planned as an album of covers simply to fulfil their record contract, was born. Along the way, in the light of the protests following the death of George Floyd, the band made the decision to change their name from The Dixie Chicks to just The Chicks. The word ‘Dixie’ has racist connotations in the United States as it references the Mason-Dixie line which traditionally separated the free and slave-owning southern states. They revealed to the New York Times they had wanted to change the names many years ago and made the switch instantly when Strayer saw a post on Instagram referring to the Confederate flag as the ‘Dixie swastika’
It’s an album full of incredible songs with a strong, empowering feminist message which reinforces just what an important force The Chicks are, both as role models for the feminist movement and for the music industry as a whole. The spectre of Maines’ divorce hangs heavy over the album, particular on the lead single ‘Gaslighter’ - “We moved to California and we followed your dreams / I believed in the promises you made to me / Swore that night 'till death do us part / But you lied” - and the lush but heartbreaking ‘Sleep At Night’. Throughout it all though there is a defiance, a confidence and desire to make rights out of wrongs, to bring out young boys to be model citizens and respecters of women, and to stand up for and support every woman who has ever been cheated on or subjected to any form of abuse. “I guess this is the time to remind you / Sometimes what's going through your head / Is just a temporary situation / And light will soon be shed,” Maines passionately sings on the second single ‘Julianna Calm Down’ against a gradually insistent beat which leads the track into gentle dancepop territory.
And while the feminist message is strong throughout the album, there is also acknowledgement of the role men need to play in elevating women, particularly Maines’ two sons. As her marriage crumbles through her husband’s bad behaviour in ‘Sleep At Night’, she acknowledges how this could affect her son’s subsequent treatment of women: My husband's girlfriend's husband just called me up / How messed up is that? / It's so insane that I have to laugh / But then I think about our two boys trying to become men / There's nothing funny about that.” And the tender ballad ‘Young Man’ is a love letter to her sons and acknowledge the effect her divorce will have on them as they grow up: “Your hero fell just as you came of age".
Sonically, Gaslighter reflects the changes that have happened in country music in the years since they last released new music. The influence of the woman who they originally influenced - Taylor Swift - is clear, with The Chicks treading a fine line between pop and country with songs taking enough components of both genres to please fans of either. That’s not to suggest The Chicks have simply produced a bland crowd pleasing album - the authenticity of their music is never in doubt, and this collection of songs is contemporary country-pop of the very highest order. Emotive, polished, and soulful, each track connects deeply, wrapping itself around you as a personal song delivered just to you. It is one of the greatest albums to be released this year, and cements what we all need to acknowledge about The Chicks - one of the most talented, influential and important bands the music industry has produced this generation.
Gaslighter by The Chicks is out now. She can download and stream by clicking here.
To keep up with all things The Chicks you can follow them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
