MSG whistlin' Dixie!
In parts of this country, some people want to run the Dixie Chicks out of town on a rail. But in New York, the group could run for office and win in a landslide.
At their concert at Madison Square Garden last night, the Chicks' performance had the impact of a political rally. Yet the group has had to cancel dates in such twangy mainstays as Houston, Memphis and Oklahoma City - all as part of the continued fallout from singer Natalie Maines' famous line from 2003 about being ashamed to come from the same state as President Bush.
It didn't help matters that fiddle player Martie Maguire recently told Time magazine that the group would rather forgo your typical Toby Keith fan in favor of "a small following of cool people who get it."
Last night's crowd definitely got it. And the Chicks gave them many pointed chances to show it. They took the stage to the sarcastic strains of "Hail to the Chief," eliciting knowing giggles, then went straight into "Lubbock or Leave It," which addresses small-town intolerance.
Later, they announced, with full irony, that the new song "Taking the Long Way Around" describes "how we make the excellent career decisions we make."
As crowd-pleasing gestures go, these hit the mark squarely. While they could have seemed smug delivered in this, the bluest of blue states, instead they wound up giving the group an extra edge they could use.
In the past, some of the Chicks' slicker country-rock has had more decorative appeal than depth. But recent events seem to have given them more grounding and context, especially live. Last night's show combined both the fine craft of their best songs with an extra dash of purpose and consequence.
Maines' heavier vocal on Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" showed a new awareness of both the toll of time and the character it can bring. She imbued "Wide Open Spaces" with a more urgent sense of yearning.
While the concert, like the band's new CD, gives stingier play to Maguire's fiddle work, and Emily Robison's banjo, the two had a few choice showcases here, including several in "White Trash Wedding," which the group wryly dedicated to Mel Gibson.
That's typical of the humor that has helped make the group's amped-up politics go down easy.
Originally published on August 2, 2006
