By Craig Hannah
In a declaration of intent and a little defiance, the back page of Home's booklet is emblazoned with the words, "We are changing the way we do business". Coincidence?
I don't think so. This Texan band has just emerged from a running battle with its record company over royalty payments.
The Dixie Chicks have made two contemporary country-pop inflected records, Wide Open Spaces (1998) and Fly (1999). Both albums sold in prodigious quantities, as is the way with most Nashville gloss, with the star-making machinery marketing the popular song.
Home is a beautiful traditional country record brimful with acoustic guitars, fiddles, banjos and tight harmonies. It almost definitively balances modern attitudes with classic instrumentation.
Natalie Maines' intense soprano is wonderful throughout, allied to Martie Maguire's fine fiddle-playing and Emily Robison's superb banjo-picking. The album is further elevated by Lloyd Maines's deft production and Bryan Sutton's stellar bluegrass guitar.
The material is mostly covers from writers as estimable as Patty Griffin, Bruce Robison, Tim O' Brien and Darrell Scott (the rollicking opener Long Time Gone, with clever references to Cash, Haggard and Williams snr). Stevie Nicks' Landslide is completely transformed by glorious harmonies.
Home may be a stylistic change in direction for the Dixie Chicks but the band's characteristic flair, humour and vibrant personality are confirmed and emphasised. The change has made for one of the best records of the year.
DIXIE CHICKS
Home
(SONY)