NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After a two-year absence and a battle with their record company, the Dixie Chicks strut a new acoustic sound on "Home," an album steeped in bluegrass rather than the girl-power tunes that made them multimillion-selling artists.
Lead singer Natalie Maines, banjo player Emily Robison and her sister, fiddler Martie Maguire, went home to Texas after 2000's sold-out "Fly" tour to focus on family life and found a new musical direction.
"I really felt like things were getting impersonal with the audience," said Maines, recalling arenas filled with teenage girls screaming to rocking versions of "Goodbye Earl" and "Ready to Run."
"I just had an urge to play in front of however few people and make it more personal and be able to hear what they're saying to me, and sort of make it conversational instead of a big flashy show," she said.
The Dixie Chicks were also unhappy with the money they'd gotten after selling more than 21 million copies of "Fly" and "Wide Open Spaces." They filed a lawsuit declaring their contract with Sony Records void because of nonpayment of royalties.
Sony had previously sued, claiming the group owed it more than $100 million for five undelivered albums.
The Dixie Chicks joined the Recording Artists Coalition, which is demanding better relationships with record labels, including fairer contracts and more oversight of accounting practices.
The yearlong dispute ended in June, with the Dixie Chicks getting a reported $20 million out-of-court settlement, increased royalties and their own label, Open Wide Records, an imprint of Sony.
"We were hoping to change something that would somehow be precedent-setting and help other artists, specifically in how contracts are drawn up and the accountability that major labels have," Robison said. "That did not happen. That's the disappointing part of it."
Wrangling with a large record company is a long way from the cowgirl band that played on the street corners of Dallas in the early 1990s. Then, the group consisted of Robison, Maguire and Laura Lynch and Robin Macy on guitars and vocals.
Maines was recruited in the mid-1990s. The trio released "Wide Open Spaces" in 1998. The album, winner of two Grammys, struck a chord with young women with hits such as the title cut and "There's Your Trouble."
"Fly," released in 1999, was just as big, also winning two Grammys. The Dixie Chicks headlined their first arena tour, an elaborate show that emphasized the trio's rock side.
"I remember looking out at the audience during the 'Fly' tour and seeing a gazillion 16-year-old girls dressed exactly like the Chicks and just rocking out," said Phyllis Stark, bureau chief of the Nashville office of Billboard magazine. " 'Home' is not that kind of album."
There are no drums, no soaring choruses and hardly any electric instruments on "Home," produced by Maines' father, Lloyd Maines, a renowned steel guitarist.
The album (released Tuesday, Aug. 27) is accessible — the first single, "Long Time Gone," and a cover of Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" are prime examples of that — although the safe move would have been making "Fly II."
"A whole album full of sing-along songs would have been easy for them to do," Stark said. "It's risky and brave and wonderful that they went in the other direction and made stripped-down, bluegrassy acoustic music."
The beginnings of "Home" can be found in the sold-out arenas of the "Fly" tour, which propelled sales to more than 10 million.
"I thought with our first two albums, I was our audience," said Maines, who turns 28 in October. "Now" — she pauses several beats, looking for the right words — "I'm not so sure who our audience is."
"Is our past audience going to move here with us? Did we move too fast for them? We've been away for two years, and I've been cooped up in my house with a 1 1/2-year-old. ... I don't know if I'm in touch with our audience."
While on hiatus, Maines had a baby, Maguire got married and Robison got pregnant. She and her husband, country singer Charlie Robison, expect their first child in November.
The group decided to record again when Maines called Robison and Maguire and said she was ready to work.
"She had had a baby and we were trying not to bother her about working and making music again," said Maguire, 32.
"Aw, you all were loving it! Martie got some more shopping time!" Maines shot back.
Maines thought the group might work on old cover songs for fun. She'd also been listening to bluegrass-acoustic pop singer Alison Krauss, and Maguire and Robison grew up going to bluegrass festivals, so they decided to keep it acoustic.
Even though the fight with Sony hung in the balance, the Dixie Chicks started recording.
"They seemed so relaxed that sometimes I'd have to come out and crack the whip," said Lloyd Maines. "They'd be looking at catalogs of baby clothes and home furnishings. If they felt any pressure, I couldn't tell."
The tour to support "Home" will wait until after Robison, 30, has her baby. The plan is to play amphitheaters starting in April, with a multi-artist format.
"We're thinking Lilith Fair with men and without politics," Maines said. "And try to not have drums if possible, unless some awesome artist wants to be part of it but wants to have their drums.
"It would give us the chance to sing these songs the way we want to, and then I'll be able to rock again.
"But I'm not ready to rock right now."