Erstwhile Dixie Chick, Natalie Maines, moves further on up the road away from the country music umbrella that the Chicks were a part of.
As her band hasn’t released anything for the past seven years, perhaps it’s time that the Bush-baiting singer/songwriter came out swinging with her first solo album.
And she does.
Partnering up with Ben Harper as her co-producer, co-songwriter and guitarist, Maines’ biting vocal style is in clear, ringing form and she’s backed by a tight, vibe-heavy band.
There’s not much in the way of big country sounds on Mother; it’s guitar/keyboard based. There’s no flashy fiddle playing or other Dixie Chick instrumentation. Harper plays slide; that’s as close as it gets.
The album has a push to it that really kicks in strong on the Patty Griffin-penned Silver Bell, a raw road song that highlights Maines’ attractive snarl and Harper’s winding slide.
Maines also covers Eddy Vedder, The Jayhawks, and Roger Waters’ anthemic ballad from Pink Floyd’s The Wall as the title track. Maines gives that song a reflective reading that has a deep ache that captures the sadness and futility of the lyric.
Similar moods are brought up on Free Life and Maines’ autumnal cover of Jeff Buckley’s Lover You Should’ve Come Over.
The songs have dark shadings but Maines and her band sound joyously “in the zone.” It does sound like a group effort, rather than a solo excursion.
The material, both covers and the Maines-Harper originals, is a cohesive roots-rock collection that is connected by Maines’ emotionally focussed performance.
Some tracks bite hard like Trained, which is straight-up hard rock and Come Cryin’ to Me, which has a high, lonesome cry set to a roadhouse groove.
Maines has an edge going on with Mother and her keening voice and forceful material signal a change of direction to rock and roots-based sounds.
— Dean Gordon-Smith is a Vernon-based musician who writes about new releases for The Morning Star.
