When the Dixie Chicks kick off a worldwide tour in Belgium next month, the rejuvenated country group will be selling something new in the merch booth.
Reissued vinyl copies of Wide Open Spaces, Fly, Home and Taking the Long Way — the band’s four albums with outspoken frontwoman Natalie Maines, who joined the lineup after the Chicks’ original lead singer, Laura Lynch, retired in 1995 — all hit stores on April 15th, one day before the opening date of the DCX MMXVI World Tour. Released between 1998 and 2006, those records helped make the Dixie Chicks the best-selling country group of the past 25 years, with the first two albums selling more than 10 million copies each. Although it’s been a decade since the Chicks released anything new, the reissues — which feature remastered tracks and 150-gram pressings — shine a brighter light on a band whose music hasn’t lost its punch, even after 10 years of semi-retirement.
The semi-retirement appears to be over these days, with the upcoming DCX MMXVI World Tour sweeping its way across Europe in April and early May before heading to Cincinnati for the start of a 46-date American leg. It’s the band’s first time touring the U.S. as headliners since 2006. Apart from the four reissues, the Chicks are staying tight-lipped about the possibility of any new material finding its way into their nightly setlists — or onto the racks of music stores.
The Dixie Chicks will play Dallas’ Gexa Energy Pavilion, Friday, August 5. Tickets are available through Live Nation.
– Rolling Stone
