CALL 'EM THE "ERSATZ CHICKS"
Dixie Chicks??? Let me begin by telling you that I'm a hard core country music fan, but I only like the Bakersfield-Austin type, not the country boys with glitter and tight pants from Nashville. I have two of the the Chicks older albums and listen to them many times per month. There was a Dixie Chick concert the other night and I think the reasons for the declining attendance have nothing to do with Natalie Maines' statements on the war and Bush, nor her airheaded interviews.
ONE: Every new song sounds exactly like the one before. Manes has one kind of naselized voice and it doesn't wear well over a two hour period. When they do their older material there is plenty of variety, but the near monotone continues. Link here.
TWO: There are more dykes in the audience than at the Dinah Shore Golf Tourney. Wall to wall, holding hands, kissing one another, and groping one another. This would not be a concert I'd take my small children to and I think their appeal to this crowd is responsible for their declining concert attendance.
THREE: These chicks are not the original band, that's why the sound is different. Neither Manes nor the other two were in the band when it broke out. The original band consisted of Robin Lynn Macy on guitar and vocals, Laura Lynch on bass and vocals, Martie Erwin on fiddle, viola, and vocals, and co-founder Emily Erwin on banjo and vocals. None of the original Dixie Chicks are now with the current band, which is composed of Emily Robison: guitar, banjo, dobro, vocals; Natalie Maines: guitar, bass guitar, lead vocals; Martie Maguire: fiddle, mandolin, vocals. I guess you might call the current version: The Ersatz Chicks.
Late Add: I'm getting at least eight emails challenging my statement that this group is completely different from the original. Rather than debate, go HERE to the All-Inclusive Dixie Chicks page..... However there is a very knowledgable comment on the comments page that states the two original Chicks remain with changed names due to marriage. I still say that their sound ain't the same.
4 comments:
You're right about how much they suck these days. You're wrong about the "other two". They were there from the get go. I've got ALL the old CDs and went to see them a few times at Poor David's Pub in Dallas when they first started. Here's a pic of the band before the rug muncher joined the group.
Laura Lynch: lead vocal, bass
Emily Erwin: banjo and harmony vocal
Robin Lynn Macy: guitar and harmony vocal
Martie Erwin: fiddle
http://www.dixie-chicks.com/pictures.shtml
Wrong,you better check another page. This group is completely different, read my post again. There is a history from the beginning HERE
Manes, with her tattoos blazing is an obvious dyke, and the other two are butch as hell. Nobody wants to see the obvious: audiences ain't ready for rug munchers selling their lifestyles.
Howard - the change from Emily Erwin to Emily Robison, and from Martie Erwin to Martie Macguire is due to name changes due to marriage. Emily and Martie are sisters - Emily married Charlie Robison (a great songwriter by the way) and Martie married Gareth Macguire.
Trust me - I have ALL their albums and the founder Macy left, then Lynch was booted, and the then Erwin sisters hired Maines, who is the daughter of Lloyd Mains who is an old time Texas musician - he had been around for ages.
When Natalie started doing lead vocals, they started getting radio airplay nationally. No question that "Wide Open Spaces" was a break from the original sound. But it made them rich.
Emily and Martie have been in the band since the beginning - the sound changed, and their names did when they married - but otherwise they are the same two women playing the same instruments!
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