The Texas-based country band Dixie Chicks are back with their first new album in 14 years titled Gaslighter, which will be produced by Jack Antonoff, who has produced for Taylor Swift, Lorde, St. Vincent and Lana Del Rey. This new album will be released on May 1st via Columbia Records.
A new music video directed by Seanne Farmer for the record’s title track has also been released. This video contrasts vintage black and white shots, with images of the band performing. The black and white shots are filled with symbolic imagery showing a train going off the rails and a plane crashing into a mountain, as the track calls out society for “gas lighting” and repeating the same mistakes others have made in the past.
The band’s last album Taking The Long Way was released back in 2006, topping the Billboard Charts upon release and winning the Grammy Award for album of the year. Despite this massive commercial success and recognition, the band received immense backlash from corporate broadcasting networks, who blacklisted the group after their lead vocalist, Natalie Maines, made a statement critical of the Bush administration and the Iraq war.
During a concert in London back in 2003 Maines stated “”We don’t want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States (George W. Bush) is from Texas.” This statement came only nine days prior to the US invasion of Iraq, and eventually led to the group getting blacklisted from country music stations, and receiving death threats as a result of these comments.
The group took a hiatus from touring after the release of Taking The Long Way, as the band’s other members Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire formed the bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. The band reunited for tours in 2013 and 2016, and even appeared on the 2017 live album DCX MMXVI Live, which featured their take on Beyoncé’s “Daddy Lessons.”
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