Dixie Chicks: A Powder Keg Of Talent

by Kat Jamos, The Park Record

There was an explosion at the Delta Center Saturday night as the Dixie Chicks rocked the stage for a non-stop, two-hour concert. The wait through a warmup act and some deejay antics was tedious, but the Chicks performance more than made up for it.

The three women, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Seidel, are incredibly talented musicians, both instrumentally and vocally, as well as gorgeous and sexy. Emily plays five-string banjo, dobro and guitar, her sister Martie excels on fiddle while Natalie shifts from acoustic guitar to electric guitar and bass, along with doing most of the lead vocals. They're brash, but deliver from the heart.

The stage was set with a wraparound curtain looking like the front of a pair of jeans. As the zipper descended, the jeans -- uh, curtain -- fell to the floor, and first Martie, then Emily and finally Natalie made their entrances. They began with "I'm Gonna Be Ready This Time" from their newer CD, "Fly," followed by "There's Your Trouble'' from the "Wide Open Spaces" album.

Three Jumbotron screens behind the stage provided close-ups of the trio along with kaleidoscopic images and landscapes. A six-piece, all-male band backed them up with keyboards, drums, guitars and such, but never overwhelmed them. How could they? There was too much energy for anyone to overshadow. At times the volume verged on painful, but never approached the decibel level of the crowd at the end of each song. The Delta Center once again confirmed its status as the loudest arena in the country.

One of the mellow points of the evening came with a poignant rendition of "You Were Mine," a song that Emily and Martie had written about their parents' divorce many years before.

Natalie, who is usually seen with short, spiky blond hair, appeared with two faux pony tails (perhaps to spoof the fact that the group was once referred to as the Country "Spice Girls" -- they've long dispelled that comparison). Martie made the announcement that Natalie had just gotten married, in Las Vegas the evening before, to actor Adrian Pasdar.

In a break from the music the audience was treated to "slide show" of old pictures of the Chicks, as toddlers, adolescents and teens. They had no trouble poking fun at themselves as well as each other.

This was followed by some hot bluegrass between Emilv and Martie on banjo and fiddle, then joined by Natalie on bass, which included a short rift from Little Feat's "I’ll Be Your Dixie Chicken." Could this be where they came up with the group's name?

More special effects came during the ballad, "Cold Day In July." as snow-making machines churned out a blizzard, covering the audience in the fluffy white stuff.

In answer to the group sometimes being considered is role models for young girls, Natalie declined that status, but gave up her words of wisdom, "Never settle for less than the fairy tale," which led into the tune "Cowboy Take Me Away."

As the group took their bows, and made their exit the crowd went crazy. Everyone knew they'd be back -- they hadn't sung about Earl yet. But when they reappeared, Natalie was on a mini-stage near the sound board in the back of the auditorium. Emily and Martie were in the upper　tiers on opposite sides of the Delta Center. And it was "Goodbye Earl." accompanied by the star-studded video on the Jumbotrons. It was difficult to decide what to watch. There were Jane Krakowski of "Ally McBeal" as the battered wife. Lauren Holly of "Chicago Hope" as her friend and "NYPD Blue’s" Dennis Franz sporting a black wig as Earl, who pays the price for his actions and winds up as the "missing person nobody missed."