Natalie Maines: Mother

A fiddle-free zone from Dixie chicks frontwoman
It’s been a decade since country superstars the Dixie Chicks were boycotted from many US radio stations following Natalie Maines’ righteous criticism of George W. Bush, and six years since their last album, the Rick Rubin produced Taking The Long Way, swept up at the Grammys. With the band on extended hiatus since then, the feisty singer seems to have taken the long way about making her solo debut. 
She’s also hung up her cowgirl boots and taken a very different direction. Co-produced with Ben Harper, Mother is a fiddle-free zone, a soft rock album which eschews all country tropes. Unfortunately, while it has its charms, it’s not an especially powerful one. The album features eight cover versions (including songs by Harper, Eddie Vedder and The Jayhawks) and two co-writes. From the off, it’s obvious that Maines feels that genre-hopping alone is as much of a risk as she’s prepared to take – though, in fairness, hardcore Dixie Chick fans will undoubtedly be screaming ‘Judas!’ now that she’s turned wannabe Rock Chick. 
It opens with the catchy but unremarkable Vedder-penned pop tune ‘Without You’. The title track follows, an interesting cover of the Pink Floyd song which somewhat sweetens the sneer of the original. Things pick up with the radio-friendly ‘Free Life’, written by veteran songwriter Dan Wilson. 
She makes a reasonably decent fist of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’ and her gutsy take on Patty Griffin’s break-up song ‘Silver Bell’ isn’t bad. However, for the most part, she’s chosen broody mid-tempo numbers in minor keys, and imitated rather than interpreted them. The musicianship is impeccable, but dispassionate.
It doesn’t sound like her heart and soul is in it. One exception is the excellent ‘Vein In Vain’, which she co-wrote with Harper (“There’s a hole in my heart/ And it’s filled with regret/ So we settle for shadows/ Shadows and silhouettes”). Perhaps she should have trusted in her own abilities a bit more. 
Maines has a great voice, isn’t afraid to express controversial opinions, and undoubtedly has an inner rock star just dying to be unleashed. A shame, then, that this slickly produced album sounds like something a halfway talented X-Factor winner could’ve come up wit