The Chicks
Gaslighter
2020
In retrospect, Natalie Maines let George W. Bush off easy.
Her ex-husband wasn’t nearly so lucky, as Sony rejecting a Patty Griffin covers project to fulfill the Chicks’ contract coincided with the dissolution of Maines’ marriage due to her spouse’s rampant infidelity. He took her to court to limit how much she could say on record, but he should’ve saved himself the legal fees, because what’s here eviscerates him, leaving only a pile of ash.
And that’s not because Gaslighter is mean or bitter or vindictive. It tells the honest truth about the impact of a destroyed marriage twenty years in with two kids in the mix. There’s something about cheating that far in that feels out of bounds, kind of like how a plane is supposed to be safest once it’s leveled off and maintained altitude for a good long while.
“Sleep at Night” and “Tights On the Boat” give us the tea, but the former’s admission that “then I think about our two boys trying to become men” reveals the stakes that the album explores in depth. Whatever anger she feels as a wife is outweighed by her responsibilities as a mom and her deep understanding of how this disruption of the household comes just when her boys need their father the most. “Young Man” and “Julianna Calm Down” work as a way to center the boys’ feelings and then expand the same sentiment to the girls in the larger Chicks extended family.
Some of the album’s best moments are its most hopeful ones, where the girls fantasize about a “Texas Man” being DTF in California, or more poignantly, the way they rise like a phoenix from the ashes on “My Best Friend’s Weddings,” the most cathartic track on the album. Gaslighterhas dizzying highs, but also maintains a consistent excellence from start to finish that makes it nearly the equal of Home as a crown jewel in the Chicks’ catalog.
I’d still like to hear that Patty Griffin record, though!
Additional Listening:
The Chicks haven’t put out a lot of music during the CU era, but it’s all been essential listening:
- Taking the Long Way, their Grammy-sweeping post-scandal set, showcased their songwriting chops with a seventies country rock sound
- DCX MMXVI documented their first U.S. tour in a decade, giving us winning live versions of “Don’t Let Me Die in Florida” and “Daddy Lessons”
- “Daddy Lessons” is even better as a standalone single with Beyoncé, debuted at the 2016 CMA Awards
- “Soon You’ll Get Better” from Taylor Swift’s Lover features delicate harmony and instrumentation from the Chicks
Country Universe: A 20th Anniversary Retrospective
Previous: Tami Neilson, KINGMAKER |
Next: Allison Russell, Outside Child
Does Jonathan like Taking the Long Way any better now? Lol.
It’s definitely my least favorite Chicks album.
I’d approach that review a lot differently now, at least. I have come around on “Not Ready to Make Nice” a bit since seeing them perform it live a few times and hearing how strongly it resonates with the crowd in spite of its lyrics that, still to me, seem so insular. “Lubbock or Leave It” to a lesser extent.
My least favorite of their albums still, and by a huge margin, based upon how great the rest of them all are. Thrilled to have Gaslighter highlighted here!