If you are looking for a high-spirited, energetic and fun CD, the Dixie Chicks are definitely the way to go. Their music is perfect for summer traveling, sitting outside, and relaxing, which is exactly what the summer is for!
The Dixie Chicks are three young women from Texas. Martie Seidel and Emily Erwin are sisters and have been performing and making music since their teenage years; they toured the country together for six years in a teen, bluegrass group before creating their current band. Not only do they both sing, but they play banjo, fiddle, dobro, mandolin, and acoustic guitar. The third member, Natalie Mains is the lead singer, giving all the songs a country twist with a clean, pop feel.
The Dixie Chicks are considered country, but if you think you won’t like them, don’t let that label scare you. I thought I hated country, but there is a new breed of country singers, Shanaya Twain for example, who are making country music available to a much larger audience.
Their songs range in style from pop oriented, catchy tunes like Wide Open Spaces and I Can Love You Better to soft, sentimental ballads like You Were Mine. All of the songs on this album have beautiful three part harmony, fantastic instrument playing, and an easy going, swinging feel that makes me wish I had tried country music sooner!
The Dixie Chicks are in their 20s: young women themselves, and their connection to other young women comes out in their music. They represent a whole other kind of girl power, one that says its OK to make mistakes, and one that encourages every girl to find her own way and grow through living:
Who doesn't know what I'm talking about
Who's never left home who's never struck out
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone
Many precede and many will follow
A young girls dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out West
But what it holds for her she hasn't yet guessed
She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes