Dixie Chicks: Taking The Long Way

Herald rating: * * * *

Texan trio broaden their horizons with slick seventh album After singer Natalie Maines' anti-Bush remarks, the Dixie Chicks have had to reinvent themselves. US radio programmers boycotted them, fans disowned them. But that didn't stop them getting back on the horse and producing possibly the best album of their career.

Rather than shy away from the controversy, the Texan trio tackle it head on. "I wouldn't kiss all the asses that they told me to," Maines spits on the Fleetwood Mac-styled title track, later confessing they're "not ready to make nice". Why should they?

With added firepower of rock producer Rick Rubin and Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer Chad Smith, their seventh studio album is slick confirmation the Chicks deserve a broad audience.

They've come a long way since their early days of 90s country pop. Here they sound more world-weary and assertive, like country bumpkins who and roughed up on city streets for a while. Check the album's rockiest track, Lubbock or Leave It, for evidence their live gigs could be more ferocious than they used to be.

They haven't strayed entirely from their bluegrass roots, as a song like Bitter End proves. And they haven't given up the joys of the motherland. "I like to drive along the highway, wind in my hair," they remind us on I Like It. But those who still associate the Chicks with the old country will be pleasantly surprised.

Label: Sony/BMG