The Chicks Jump Into a New Battle
The country trio’s first record in 14 years is their poppiest and most personal LP ever
The country trio’s first record in 14 years, Gaslighter, is their poppiest and most personal LP ever.
In the nineties, the Dixie Chicks paved the way for the truth-telling women who dominate country music today. But they’ve never had much luck living in the world they made. In 2003, some light bashing of President Bush got them exiled from Nashville, and their rock-influenced comeback LP, Taking the Long Way, failed to create a viable path forward. Even their recent decision to drop “Dixie” from their name echoes the burden of bad history.
The trio’s first studio release in nearly 15 years is their most pop-sounding, but they still have some bones to pick. This time the conflict is coming from inside the house. Much of Gaslighter is centered on Natalie
Maines’ acrimonious 2019 divorce from Heroes actor Adrian Pasdar. The resulting album is at times so brutally honest that Pasdar reportedly tried to block its release. When Maines sings, “After so long, I learned to hold my tongue/ And now that you’re done, I get to write this song,” on “Hope It’s Something Good,” it’s less a triumph than a weary sigh of relief.
Jack Antonoff, producer extraordinaire for the likes of Taylor Swift and Lorde, is the main collaborator here, along with a cadre of other hitmakers — Julia Michaels, Teddy Geiger, Ian Kirkpatrick. As with the Chicks’ long-overdue name change, the arrangement dissolves most of the group’s lingering connections to their street-corner bluegrass origins. Martie Maguire’s fiddle sounds more like a violin; Emily Strayer’s banjo has lost its twang.
All of the Chicks have experienced divorce, but Gaslighter is Maines’ story to tell, often in excruciating detail. “My husband’s girlfriend’s husband just called me up/How messed up is that?” she sings with a laugh on “Sleep at Night,” then stops herself short, remembering that her two sons are trying to grow up in the midst of such chaos. If Gaslighter does anything right, it’s this peppering of wry (and often very petty) humor amid the stop-andgo pain and frustration that accompanies a fragmented relationship. “It’s my body, and it hates you/Why does everybody love you?” Maines asks on “Everybody Loves You,” and it’s enough to break your heart.
Unfortunately, the LP’s production doesn’t rise to the occasion, falling back on tepid ballads, flattened melodies, acoustic-guitar strums with plastic textures, and soaring whoaoa’s and whoo-oo’s. The best moments are when the band sounds like itself; “Texas Man” creates a hoedown vibe with electric guitar and rock percussion, while “Hope It’s Something Good” takes on a dream-pop quality with gorgeous vocal lilts and hazy pedal steel.
The Chicks have always stood for liberation. At times, Gaslighter pushes toward a calmer freedom. “I can see a wildfire comin’/Burnin’ the world that I know,” Maines sings on “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” “Take what I need and go.” It suggests that the band members may be ready to escape the madness and settle down, or at least settle into their own pace. Maybe this time, they’ll finally outrun the flames.