In case there was any doubt, the Chicks’ politics are still front and center.
Maybe it’s an all-too-understandable chip on the trio’s shoulders – as their very public thoughts about a certain former president from their home state got them banned from country radio in 2003, leading to what ultimately slowed a meteoric rise throughout the last gasps of the Nineties. They recovered, but never quite mounted the full-throated comeback to their early-career heights.
So for the Friday ACL Fest crowd, and throughout much of their sporadic touring since, the Chicks doubled down. Frontwoman Natalie Maines wore a bejeweled RBG shirt. Lyndon B. Johnson’s iconic 1964 “Daisy Girl” ad flashed in a frenetic supercut of ominous imagery, later joined by goofy Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott bobble-heads. Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” welcomed the trio and backing band on stage. And aside from raucous opener “Sin Wagon,” the early part of the set was packed with cuts from 2020’s Gaslighter, the undertones of the Trump administration echoing through.
The only thing missing was an explicit Beto campaign appearance, which I had good money on – though a Beto sticker did prominently appear in a jumbotron shot of the grand piano. But the brightest parts of the two-hour closing set were when they loosened their grip on the shtick and embraced their identity outside of the comments heard ‘round the world.
Lloyd Maines, Natalie’s dad, played pedal steel throughout, and her 21-year-old son, Slade, played guitar. The lead vocalist noted it was a rare instance of three generations of the Maines family coming together onstage, as her dad snapped photos with his phone. With the ever-talented duo of sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire – whose daughter Eva featured on second fiddle – it was a family affair.
A rendition of Bruce Robison’s “Travelin’ Soldier” was the clear turning point in an evening which, until that point, focused on the 2020 record. The shift in the crowd energy was palpable. The first acoustic chords of “Wide Open Spaces” prompted a roar, with similar enthusiasm carrying through classic cuts “Cowboy Take Me Away” and “Long Time Gone.” The Chicks were at their best when they embraced their legacy in a focus beyond the political realm.
They aren’t beloved for that moment in 2003, but for their own liberation. Onstage, the most freedom was felt in moments like their stilling cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” and the nod to Beyoncé’s “Daddy Lessons.” Particularly in the song that kept the crowd until the end – the murder romp of “Goodbye Earl” – they felt like women unfettered by any kind of reputation, other than doing things differently.
Their evasion of cookie-cutter country started long before the early 2000s. Though they are “Not Ready to Make Nice,” nor do we need them to be, their heavy-handedness weighed down the start of their Zilker debut. Sometimes the music is enough, and the late-Friday-night embrace of that mentality unlocked what the Chicks fans came for.
The Chicks for Beto at #ACLFest ! pic.twitter.com/YJyKXf57oy
— Rachel Rascoe (@rachelrascoe) October 8, 2022
This article appears in October 7 • 2022.