Dixie Chicks Taking the Long Way won Album of the Year

Taking the Long Way The Dixie Chicks

Released: May 23, 2006 Peak: 12 US, 19 CW, 10 UK, 14 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.1 UK, 3.96 world (includes US and UK) Genre: country

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. The Long Way Around (8/29/06, --) Easy Silence Not Ready to Make Nice (3/25/06, 4 BB, 36 CW, 32 AC) Everybody Knows (5/6/06, 45 CW) Bitter End Lullaby Lubbock or Leave It Silent House Favorite Year Voice Inside My Head I Like It Baby Hold On So Hard I Hope (10/22/05, 54 CW) Total Running Time: 66:42 The Players: Natalie Maines (vocals, Omnichord) Martie Maguire (fiddle, viola, mandolin, strings, background vocals) Emily Robison (banjo, guitar, papoose, accordion, sitar, background vocals)

Rating: 4.235 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: As if following up three albums that sold nearly 30 million copies and a battle with their record label over royalties weren’t enough, this Texas trio now known as the Chicks were facing backlash from criticism of then-President George W. Bush made by lead singer Natalie Maines. Conservative country radio suddenly wanted nothing to do with them. To their credit, Maines, Martie Maguire, and Emily Robison did not back down. While their country audience diminished, they had become international superstars bigger than a particular genre. “Their sound and sensibility played to an audience that was much bigger and more self-consciously sophisticated than the country audience, so their shift from country to pop on 2006’s Taking the Long Way feels natural.” STE “The trio’s harmonies still shine brightly, they still play with conviction, and they still have a strong body of songs here.” STE On songs like “the defiant Not Ready to Make Nice [Grammy winner for song and record of the year] and the redneck-baiting Lubbock or Live It” STE they “don’t sound like they’re in retreat…they merely sound like they’re being themselves.” STE “They are now savvy, sophisticated urbanites” STE that are now “a little more NPR than hot country” STE with a sound that is “more suited for upscale apartments and coffeehouses” STE than Nashville. The album cover even suggests the newer image with them looking “like they’ve stepped out of Sex and the City.” STE The band outsourced some songwriting to the likes of Sheryl Crow, Neil Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz), Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Dan Wilson (Semisonic, Trip Shakespeare), and bluesman Keb’ Mo’. “All are accomplished songwriters whose strengths may not seem to lie in country, but they all know how to structure a song, and they help give the group direction and the album focus.” STE They also worked with famed producer Rick Rubin. His “skill on picking collaborators for the trio makes up for his typically flat production – it’s clean and classy but not colorful, which it begs to be, given that this is a pop album filled with different styles and textures from rollicking rock & roll to soulful laments to sweet ballads. But this lack of zest in the production is forgivable because Taking the Long Way is otherwise a strong, confident affair that is far from suggesting the Dixie Chicks are being cowardly for moving away from country. Rather, they’re bravely asserting their identity through this varied, successful crossover move.” STE

Resources and Related Links: STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 10/8/2011; last updated 2/6/2024.