Dixie Chicks - Home

The Dixie Chicks aren't old enough to remember when radio programmed pop records next to country, rock, folk, and beyond, but their Texas DNA tells them that's the way music was meant to be heard. On Home, which they coproduced in Austin with Lloyd Maines, the father of lead singer Natalie Maines, they strip off the star-making gloss of Nashville and get down to the meat of the matter, turning out an acoustic record that gives a big Texas howdy to bluegrass. But that's only the framework they use to salute all their influences, from the raggedy rock of Little Feat (on Darrell Scott's irresistible "Long Time Gone") to the pained ballads of Stevie Nicks (covering her melancholy "Landslide") to the confessional Texas singer-songwriters who straddle the country-folk line (Patty Griffin, Bruce Robison). Maines's raw, irrepressible soprano remains a thing of wonder, as do the threesome's exquisite harmonies, which seem tighter and more organic than ever before. Still, the jaw-dropping thrills come from the passionate and masterful picking of Emily Robison on banjo, bluegrass guitarist Bryan Sutton, and Adam Steffey, whose fluid mandolin does Bill Monroe proud. Home, the Chicks' first release on their own record label, puts the front porch back into mainstream music, whatever the genre. And not a minute too soon. --Alanna Nash Amazon.com

Good American Album

To the roots of the matter I would say and very good too. I never thought I would be saying this about a Dixie Chicks album but I liked this one. It's the real thing. It's what America is all about. It touched my heart I would have to say. March 26, 2005

Brilliant bluegrass takes Chicks back home

Home is a good title for this album, as it finds the Dixie Chicks making the most of their bluegrass roots. This outstanding album begins with Long time gone, a great song about family memories. Next comes an incredible cover of Landslide, a song written by Stevie Nicks, best remembered as a member of Fleetwood Mac. Travelin' soldier is a sad song about a woman receiving letters from a soldier who gets killed in Vietnam. Those three songs set the standard for the album but there are many other fine songs here including the title track (a reflective ballad), More love (another excellent ballad) and Top of the world (not a cover of the Carpenters' classic - this is a Patty Griffin song). The other songs are also excellent.

While their two previous commercial releases, Wide open spaces and Fly, had clear bluegrass influences, those albums had a very obvious contemporary edge that is missing from this album. The return to a more traditional acoustic sound will appeal to some while alienating others, as other reviews show. As one who first discovered this group via one of their independent albums (Little ol' cowgirl), I love this album although it is still very different from that early album.

Bluegrass fans will love this but many other people will enjoy it too. January 13, 2005

The "Home" of the brave, the sound of the free

[...] "Home" is a glossier effort than "Fly" or "Wide Open Spaces," yet at the same time, probably their most earthy. Only a very few artists have been able to walk this kind of fine line, and they would number the kind of musicians and songwriters that appear on "Home" with the Dixie Chicks or as artists in their own right. I'm thinking of people like Marty Stuart, Patty Griffin, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, Ricky Scaggs or Emmylou Harris. That's the kind of vibe that "Home" gives off.

The Dixie Chicks understand that there's a small amount of space between Fleetwood Mac and "Travelin' Soldier." By not allowing the factory mentality of most Nashville recordings to interfere with the music (we won't mention the slickslop of a certain "Angry American") and carting their production/recording off to Austin Texas, "Home" neatly avoids sounding like the typical inbred clone of what Music City churns out on a weekly basis. The Dixie Chicks use instruments here that don't require amplifiers and they give the songs room to breathe, even more so when they allow the voices to just take over. No amount of studio trickery can mask the vocal talent that opens "White Trash Wedding," or that Natalie Maines has become a woman of incredible emotional range, as the CD's final two selections "Godspeed" and "Top of the World" prove. This is the kind of music represents my country to me. I just can't recommend the Dixie Chicks enough. They are the sound of the free.

Four and a half stars. March 25, 2004

Feels Like Home

I am not a country fan, as a black man in the inner city country CD's are the last youd expect to find but in my 330+ collection of CD's you find (2) Shania Twain Faith Hill Leann Womack and the Dixie Chicks. Home. If you pull this CD off the shelf youll notice the disc is missing. It's because I actually travel with this one. This is the one of the few disc I own I can listen to from top to bottom. This is absolutely amazing yet simple. Heartfelt yet Enjoyable. It starts with Long Time Gone which has infectious vocals and great lyrics. Landslide though is the charmer here. On a personal note this song has allowed me to reflect on a lot of personal relationships and friendships. Awesome Awesome Awesome and doesn't matter if its the live version the album version or the Sheryl Crow remix . I listen to this song a lot on Sundays or when i'm sad or reflecting and ready to work on my novel. This song is picture perfect and they are to be commended for it. Traveling Soldier is an awesome song that tells a story and as the Dixie Chicks narrate it I swear i can close my eyes and visualize it like a movie. I Believe in Love is perfect perfect perfect perfect perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my favorites on the album definitely. More love is great. Godspeed is awesome and i let that song rock me to sleep many nights. Top of the World is a great song (i hate to sound like a broken record but all of teh acoustic slow songs are great). This album minus the country sounds very Jewel (Acoustic)/Sheryl Crow very very very very pleased and surprised once i got it after seeing the video for Landslide.

This CD is so awesome I've scratched it and need a new one.

I've also since purchased the Live CD Top of The World

Need I say more January 17, 2004

I've now gotten myself into the cowboy hat

I am not a country fan. I do not come from the south and I usually don't associate with people who like country, which I generally think of as a bunch of people whining when they could be out learning rock. But, I'll fess up and tell you that this album has changed my mind, partly anyways. I finnaly gave in to the nagging of my best friend and bought the cd. At first it was fifteen bucks down the drain, but it eventually grew on me. It's very impressing and rare to see people with such musical talent from vocals to the instruments themselves. The songs "Landslide," and "Top of the World" show off the perfect voice of Natalie Maines, even though she didn't write the songs herself. Group composed "Lil Jack Slade" made my jaw drop at the instrumental talent of Emily Robinson and Martie Maguire.
All of the songs are great, the chicks do a great job of bringing many aspects of emotion through to their music. My personal favorites are Landslide, I believe in Love, Tortured Tangled Hearts, Lil' Jack Slade, and Top of the World.
I highly doubt there are any anti-country fans out there reading this, but if you apprecitate good music and amasing talent, go and get it, for this will most definately not be fifteen bucks wasted. January 15, 2004

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