VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks Blu-ray Movie Review

"Shut up and sing" doesn't work in this format.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 19, 2011

When Natalie Maines refers to “the controversy” during this VH1 Storytellers episode, there’s no need for an explanation. The Dixie Chicks found themselves at the epicenter of a worldwide firestorm when Maines started a United Kingdom concert by disparaging the Iraq war and then stating the the Chicks were embarrassed that President Bush came from Texas, all hell brook loose, especially among the typically ultra-conservative and by and large Republican country music fan base that had helped to make The Dixie Chicks one of the most successful country acts of the past couple of decades. Suddenly Maines was the target of (repeated) death threats, country music stations nationwide removed the Chicks’ songs from their playlists, there were “parties” held where destruction of the Chicks’ CDs was the order of the day, and it seemed at least possible that the group’s recording days were numbered, at least in their current formulation. But as Maines proved with her statement itself, these women were fighters, not about to toe the line of political correctness, and despite an offered (and later retracted) sort of apology, The Dixie Chicks fought back, in a well orchestrated media blitz that saw them do everything from an interview with Diane Sawyer to an iconic cover photo shoot for Entertainment Weekly, and by the time their single “Not Ready to Make Nice” came out (largely shunned by Country radio, though it marked the beginning of the Chicks’ real crossover career), it was obvious that the Chicks had absolutely no intention of going gentle into that good night. And though there’s nothing overtly controversial about this television outing, there’s an awful lot of subtext hovering just beneath the surface, subtext which the Chicks to their credit don’t seem even in the slightest cowed by. These are strong, confident women who may not endear themselves to right leaning fans (or former fans, as the case may be), but who have continued to find their own truth and beauty in an extremely distinctive and incredibly successful sound.

The nicest thing about all of the VH1 Storytellers outings is that the songwriters actually get to talk a bit about their craft, their inspiration and what may have contributed to the writing of any given tune. In the case of VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks that’s at least occasionally a two-edged sword, for as Maines states right off the bat, “You probably know I like to talk a lot.” This 2006 episode came at the tale end of the Chicks’ “comeback” year (for want of a better word), when they stormed the Pop Charts (in a kind of “take that” response to the Country music playlists and radio markets) and ended up taking home the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for Taking the Long Way. As such, it’s perhaps understandable that Maines and the Erwin Sisters, Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, are more than a little cocksure and exultant that “the controversy” hadn’t ended up derailing their careers. But Maines especially can be at least occasionally annoying, as even she seems to realize at times, saying things like “They’re sick of listening to me, you say something” to one of the two sisters who flank her throughout the concert.

The good news here is that at least some the material the Chicks wend their way through has absolutely no political ramifications whatsoever. While Maines’ introduction to Patty Griffin’s “Truth No. 2” (one of a couple of “cover” tunes the Chicks perform in their concert) gets into some of the nuts and bolts of “the controversy,” the women are able to relax a little with less contentious fare like “Lullaby,” their charmingly simple paean to their children, which allows Natalie the chance for a funny (and uncharacteristically brief) comment or two about the autoharp-like instrument she plays, which she advertises as being readily available on eBay for twenty bucks. These quieter, less screed-like moments show the Chicks at their most disarming, and the rapport between the three women is palpable, as it also is in their shared introduction to “Cowboy Take Me Away,” an introduction which has a nice giggle-worthy moment with regard to an anecdote about Natalie and a drunken performance of the Gary Wright classic “Dream Weaver” at one of the Erwin’s weddings.

The women move through a nice and varied assortment of both major hits and some lesser known material, and what becomes quite evident is that a song's lyric is just as important to them as the tune. Though they claim not to understand everything about some songs (there's a funny moment with regard to the "water from my hips" line in Griffin's song), the Chicks obviously are drawn to material, whether self-written or cover tunes, that has some kind of message to it. That might be a message of truth telling, as in the Griffin tune, or it can be something as simple as wanting your child to sleep peacefully, as in "Lullaby."

As ironic as it may be, this VH1 Storytellers is best when its artists aren’t speaking, but singing. As informative and often funny as the introductory segments are, the special only fully comes alive when the Chicks, with their ace backup band (including legendary session keys man Larry Knechtel), kick into gear. The women sound beautiful together, and the band is nuanced and driving. Despite some occasional intonation problems with the fiddle, the women also play extremely well and prove that they’re much more than “just pretty faces.” As if that weren’t already abundantly clear from their obvious ability to speak their minds.

The set list for this VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks is:

• The Long Way Around
• Truth No. 2
• Silent House
• Cowboy Take Me Away
• Lullaby
• Lubbock Or Leave It
• Not Ready To Make Nice
• Easy Silence
• So hard
• Wide Open Spaces
• Sin Wagon

VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Columbia Records with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. A lot of this presentation pops really nicely, including in the copious close-ups of the three women, which make up the bulk of the television episode. In fact the women, if they're vain, may actually be a bit upset that fine detail reveals everything down to the blonde hair creeping up their jawbones toward their cheeks from their hairline, something some women at least can be sensitive about. Midrange and farrange shots suffer from a lack of this same clarity, and some of the footage of the audience, which seem to have been either taken with a different camera or filtered in post, is downright fuzzy and grainy. Some of the upstage musicians tend to fade into the darkness in the wings somewhat in these midrange shots.

VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As is typical of these Columbia and Sony Blu-ray releases, we're offered lossless LPCM mixes in both 5.1 and 2.0, as well as a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. The uncompressed LPCM mixes both sound fantastic, though the 5.1 is by far the more recommended mix if you have the home theater system to support it. Discrete channelization is really very well handled here (listen to the opening notes of the first song and how clearly they emanate from the right channels for just one of many excellent examples). Fidelity is really brilliantly precise and clear, something that helps to bring all the jangly pickings and strummings of banjos, mandolins and guitars to the listener with sharpness and incredible sonic definition. All of the singing is similarly really well rendered, and the 5.1 track also offers some nicely full and warmly burnished low end.

VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplementary material is included on the Blu-ray.

VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

VH1 Storytellers: Dixie Chicks is one of the more engaging episodes of this typically excellent series. A lot of people wrote off The Dixie Chicks after "the controversy," as Maines attempts so delicately to put it. But what's almost immediately clear from this episode is that Maines at least has absolutely no intention of shutting up about the controversy or anything else. That does mean that some of the introductions here tend to be on the long winded side, and some might have wished for at least a song or two more in this rather brief concert, something that might have been accomplished had the girls in their own iconic words simply decided to "shut up and sing." And even though some of the spoken elements might seem relatively tame and trivial, what they do more than anything is highlight the fantastic rapport between Maines and the Erwin sisters, something that itself was questioned when "the controversy" first broke out. With a very good video presentation and a fantastic audio presentation, despite the lack of any supplementary material, this release comes Recommended.