Welcome back, dear readers, to Lubin’ Rubin, a now weekly series in which we extol most orally the super-producer’s ability to wring meaningful noises out of acts all but consigned to the critical dumpster. Previous episodes you may recall, featured Neil Diamond and Shakira. Next instalment, a 4-CD box set of West Virginian badman ballads recorded in an abandoned fallout shelter by Mister Mister, swiftly followed by a Demis Roussos Return To Rembetika epic, with a possible option on an acoustic Afro-Cuban extravaganza by Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine.
Oh, indulge me. The real story behind the Dixie Chicks hook-up is relatively straightforward. Rick Rubin saw the band blow everyone else away at a big-haired and ballgowned industry bash a few years ago and figured some day he’d like to get his grubby paws all over them. His involvement (plus that of songwriters like ex-Jayhawk Gary Louris and Pete Yorn) is of course crucial in terms of getting the ensemble a fair hearing from the rock cognescenti, but it’s not the only reason for a volte-face on the part of audiences usually allergic to three part harmony and cats with fiddles. Lest we forget, the Chicks – specifically Natalie Maines – had the spleen to Bush-bait back in March 03 when many of their so-called radical contemporaries were humming and hawing and staring at their Converse sneakers. They had more at stake too, a large chunk of their constituency being squarely located in the most conservative of demographics, one shared with hat-headed jingoistic goons like Toby ‘Wan Kenobi’ Keith.
The Chicks’ most vocal response to the ensuing boycotts and death threats is the single ‘Not Ready To Make Nice’, the southern belle version of a fuck-you-very-much (“How in the world can the words that I said/Send somebody so over the edge/That they write me a letter saying that I better/Shut up and sing or my life will be over”).
A bloody good tune, and it’s no fluke. ‘The Long Way Around’ is a sun-kissed Rickenbacker travelogue with added pedal steel and harmony, while ‘Voice Inside My Head’ is a sublime speculation as to what would have happened had Susannah Hoffs blundered into the Southern Accents sessions. ‘Lubbock Or Leave It’ is a cat-scratch at Maines’ hometown holding out against sex education in high schools, ‘Silent House’ is about the trials of a loved one suffering from dementia, while ‘So Hard’ documents the stress of trying to conceive in the face of infertility. Can’t see Ted Nugent covering this stuff anytime soon.
Taking The Long Way is the kind of record you could slot between Lucinda and Emmylou at any Nashville Babylon hootenanny without anyone batting an eyelid. Listen without prejudice.