The Dixie Chicks, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

The Dixie Chicks are the good-time girls the country establishment loves to hate. Too direct, too old-fashioned, too modern ... you name it, it's been slung at the Texan trio. The old vanguard liked their women fiesty but second-class, preferably wearing cowgirl outfits and a smile. But the Dixie Chicks were renegade ladies of country who sung gleefully about killing abusive spouses and dressed like an older Britney Spears. Add the success they have had selling a progressive bluegrass sound to fans ignorant of banjos and whistles and you have an emasculating threat.

And they don't know when to stop. "Just so you know," says singer Natalie Maines, "we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." It gets the audience cheering - at a time when country stars are rushing to release pro-war anthems, this is practically punk rock.

Aside from courting controversy, the band has sold 25m LPs since their debut album, Wide Open Spaces, was released in 1998 and made the fiddle sexy. Featuring two sisters, Martie Maguire and Emily Robinson, along with the effervescent Maines, their passion for tradition and love for pop made the country genre a contender again. Their latest album, Home, won three Grammys.

Although their outfits are more New York than Nashville, the music is proud of its roots. Long Time Gone adopts the chatty style of Loretta Lynn and the poignancy of Hank Williams, Robinson's nifty banjo flowing beneath Maguire's sparky fiddle. Tortured, Tangled Hearts is similarly quick and quaint, Maines recalling Dolly Parton before she became Country Barbie.

Bluegrass's charm lies in its rawness, but the Dixie Chicks have polished the mountain sound and made it palatable for a new audience. This does mean that Truth No.2 creeps into Celine Dion territory, Maines grabbing each phrase and shaking her head like a puppy with a toy. But it's in the giddy Sin Wagon, which turns religious worship into a hymn for sex, that the Dixie Chicks hit their stride, shrieking, shouting, unrepentant.

Contributor

Betty Clarke

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Dixie Chicks, Birmingham NEC

Birmingham NEC

Dave Simpson

12, Sep, 2003 @11:03 AM

Dixie Chicks, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Betty Clarke

17, Jun, 2006 @12:15 PM

Dixie Chicks: anti-American?

Reactions to lead singer Natalie Maine's comments at last week's London gig

19, Mar, 2003 @4:34 PM

Article image
CD: Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way

(Sony)

Alexis Petridis

09, Jun, 2006 @3:15 PM

Did I ruin it for the Dixie Chicks?

The Dixie Chicks were going to be fun. Standing outside Shepherd's Bush Empire, clutching a bundle of press cuttings, I gleefully read about the renegade ladies of country. Outspoken Nashville Barbies on a mission to strike terror into the hearts of Hank Williams wannabes, they had kicked up their kitten-heeled boots to a diluted bluegrass sound and breathed life into a genre perversely proud of its death rattle. The Dixie Chicks were over-styled, over the top and over here.

Betty Clarke

29, Apr, 2003 @9:42 AM

Article image
Dixie Chicks change name to the Chicks due to slavery-era connotations
Politically outspoken country trio make decision amid wider reckoning with problematic Confederate terminology

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

25, Jun, 2020 @4:31 PM

Article image
Dixie Chicks review – second coming of country music outlaws
The outspoken Texan band’s timely return spans covers of Beyoncé and the Weeknd, all with a country-bluegrass core

Caroline Sullivan

02, May, 2016 @11:12 AM

Article image
Dixie Chicks, who criticised Iraq war, win five Grammys

The Dixie Chicks proved their rehabilitation was complete at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, picking up a clutch of gongs almost four years after outraging middle America with anti-George Bush comments on the eve of the Iraq war.

Press Association

12, Feb, 2007 @2:02 PM

Article image
From pariahs in Texas to heroes in the US: the Dixie Chicks dominate the Grammys
· Awards confirm comeback after anti-war controversy
· Recognition for the song glorifying defiant stance

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles

13, Feb, 2007 @8:25 AM

Article image
Dixie Chicks turn death threats to song
In 2003 the Dixie Chicks were condemned as traitors in America after telling a London audience they were ashamed that their president came from Texas. Now the group's angry new song addressing that controversy looks set to become a hit.

Oliver Burkeman in New York

25, Mar, 2006 @1:02 PM