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Post by Kent67b on Apr 25, 2013 16:14:26 GMT -8
It may be difficult to read but here is the photo and story about Natalie in the current Rolling Stone.
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Post by redheadedmomma on May 6, 2013 18:02:48 GMT -8
Thanks! This is one I want to pick up.
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Post by Kent67b on May 23, 2013 18:05:45 GMT -8
I just received the latest Rolling Stone dated June 6th and there is a five page article with a great full page photo of Natalie. I highly recommend buying a copy of it or going online and reading it. It is very enlightening about who Natalie is today but also shows who she was as a child and teenager. An excellent read.
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Post by b@@b on May 23, 2013 19:51:38 GMT -8
That's pretty cool. I'm not a fan of RS articles myself, but they bear significance no doubt. You'd think it'll help raise some notoriety for her album, along with appreciating her as a musician...for those who delve into reading that mag.
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Post by redheadedmomma on May 24, 2013 9:46:49 GMT -8
Hubby just picked it up for me. It's a wonderful article. I kind of cringed when I saw the blurb on the front.
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Post by Kent67b on May 24, 2013 10:12:23 GMT -8
I kind of cringed when I saw the blurb on the front. Me too.
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Post by erik on May 24, 2013 17:25:45 GMT -8
Quote by b@@b:
It probably will, at least somewhat. But I think it'll also depend on where the article's being read. I daresay at least some segments of red-state America ain't-a-gonna react all that well to it.
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Post by Bingo on May 24, 2013 19:16:16 GMT -8
Hubby just picked it up for me. It's a wonderful article. I kind of cringed when I saw the blurb on the front. For those who haven't seen it, the blurb reads "A Dixie Chick declares war on Nashville"I'm not sure that her carrier pigeon still knows its way to Nashville, but if the declaration of war does arrive, it may not get much further than a pending tray. As far as I can tell, her remaining Nashville allies, who'd kept up a positive image in the hope of her coming back, finally gave up in exasperation earlier this spring. That seemed to be her intention - I hope she finds the happiness she wants, but I think that partly depends on her. It can be hard to move on unless you can find the will to let go.
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Post by redbarron on May 24, 2013 19:17:43 GMT -8
You hit the nail on the head, Bingo.
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Post by b@@b on May 24, 2013 19:24:01 GMT -8
"War" sounds heavy. Is that how SHE puts it?? That's like saying she wants them to retaliate or challenge her. No kudos from me to RS for that lingua then.
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Post by Kent67b on May 24, 2013 19:34:39 GMT -8
She talks about having PTSD but I didn't read any mention of war on her part. RS used that on the cover to sell the rag. Natalie does say that "I can't listen to our second album because I was really, like, embracing country and really waving that country flag. My accent is so out of control on that album. I'm like, 'Who is that?'"
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Post by redheadedmomma on May 25, 2013 5:32:38 GMT -8
I doubt she, or her "people" have control over the headlines. Coop is right, they did it to make the issue sell. I found her to be honest in this interview. We've all heard before that she really twanged it up on Fly. I think the older we get the more we realize you have to live your life the way you want. That she's had therapy to deal with not only the backlash, but her worry about hurting Emily & Martie tells me that she doesn't take lightly in choosing her path.
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Post by Bingo on May 25, 2013 5:57:27 GMT -8
"Fly" is the album which explored the widest range of Country styles - including influences which had been largely banished from much of the Mainstream. The paradox for me, as a fan, is that, while I don't think this album is the absolute best for the Dixie Chicks as a group (when compared with "Home"), I do think it was the best for Natalie as a singer. Her stylistic range on this album blows me away - and I don't think she's ever been closer to my taste as a vocalist since. (Obviously, it's not unusual for an artist and a fan to disagree on what they consider their most pleasing work, and I accept that).
I would rate "Don't Waste Your Heart" as one of my favourite Natalie vocals. She not only carries this song, she creates its mood, with the traditional Western influences in her voice. She and Emily wrote this song together, without other co-writers. Although, I guess, she might say today that it was largely Emily's, the song speaks more strongly of Plains influences than it does of the Dixie Chicks' roots.
On "Hole In My Head", Natalie performs in the style that I think suits her most - and which I'd love to hear more of. I was so pleased that Emily played the original version of this song when she was a guest DJ on Sirius a few years ago - the paradox for me, again, is that, although Natalie says she never embrace this style again, she came closest to it with "Silver Bell" - which I see as the best track on her new album. (Buddy Miller, by the way, says he's never thought of himself as "Alternative" - he says that's Country, and what you hear on Mainstream radio is the alternative.)
I've followed the group for quite a while, and, although we can only ever get a partial picture, I do maintain that Natalie has significantly re-written her past. I could give other examples of that, but I'll cite two - her first known recordings before the Dixie Chicks ("White Woman's Clothes", and "Snowin' on Raton") were part of the broad tapestry of the Country Music milieu (To be kind, you could gloss them as "Folk" - but It would be stretching belief to call them Pop or Rock). And in a radio interview, someone said "She didn't listen to Country Music growing up", and her mother interjected, "She did!", leaving her sister to cover it by saying "Well, she listened to all types of music".
Of course, we all probably do this to some extent - play down aspects of our past that we no longer feel comfortable with, and emphasize aspects that we feel conform to our preferred image. In Natalie's case, things are complicated by the "Culture War" stereotyping - a "raging Liberal" (as opposed to the more practical type) is just as likely as a raging Conservative to rely on the broad brush caricatures, sparked off by words that imply simplistic assumptions about unrealistically monolithic enemy blocs.
If Natalie's been diagnosed with a post traumatic stress disorder, she has my heartfelt sympathy. I don't stand in her shoes, and I'm not trying to live her life for her, or have her put my hopes before her own. I think she's made a decent record, showing sensitivity and stylistic variety. I hope it makes her happy and will be a prelude to a new artistic journey. How she deals with stress is her own decision - but, as I said in my earlier post, it may be questionable whether continually protesting about her past (and quite often niggling at other people who are still associated with that milieu) and continually rising to the bait when journalists invite views on that past, does any more than inflame old wounds.
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Post by Bingo on May 30, 2013 15:27:15 GMT -8
Peter Cooper has written a riposte to Natalie's "Rolling Stone" article: blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2013/05/30/peter-cooper-goes-to-battle-with-natalie-maines-war-on-nashville/?repeat=w3tcFor those who may not know of him, Peter Cooper himself is on the Liberal wing of the Nashville music scene - which reflects both his general disappointment over Natalie's attitude, and his specific defence of Brad Paisley. He is a singer & songwriter on the East Nashville Alternative scene, as well as a music journalist. (I remember posting a video some while back of his song "Thin Wild Mercury", which was a comment on the flareup in the 1960s between Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, over Folk musicians' reaction to the "British Invasion"). He also had a much publicized altercation with Toby Keith, who stormed into a press meeting and remonstrated heatedly, over an article alleging that Keith had been at the receiving end of harsh words at a party given by Texan Outlaw musicians.
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Post by bill451 on May 31, 2013 11:03:14 GMT -8
I have to say I agree with Peter Cooper. I love the Dixie Chicks and think everything that happened to them following the comment was preposterous. But it has been 10 plus years, it's time to move on and stop thrashing country singers, etc. It does become tiresome.
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Post by xxys000 on May 31, 2013 11:37:44 GMT -8
The article is up on their website now m.rollingstone.com/?redirurl=/music/news/natalie-maines-a-dixie-chick-declares-war-on-nashville-20130530(I'm linking from a mobile device so I hope it works OK) I really enjoyed that interview. I hate that the headline was that she "declared war on Nashville." It doesn't capture the tone of the interview at all. She comes across as her usual self in this, I think. She's funny, defiant, considerate. I think her love and affection for M & E comes across and I can really see that she understands and still feels the weight of her decision to take this long term break from the Chicks. There are a few generalizations in there that I wish she would have left out. I'm a country music fan and it sometimes irritates me that I get lumped in with the stereotypes. Being a gay, liberal, Irish fan of country music makes me anything but stereotypical! Overall though I think it was a really good interview...definitely the best print interview she's done for ages. I. Love. Her.
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Post by erik on Jun 5, 2013 16:19:36 GMT -8
Quote by xxys000:
It just occurred to me that the Rolling Stone article/interview with Natalie may have been one of their typical "Gotcha!" pieces. Reading it over again, although I do think Nat has a lot of bones to pick with the powers-that-be in Nashville, it seems to me that the magazine itself and its publisher Jann Wenner have an axe to grind as well.
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Post by Bingo on Jun 5, 2013 16:49:22 GMT -8
It just occurred to me that the Rolling Stone article/interview with Natalie may have been one of their typical "Gotcha!" pieces. Reading it over again, although I do think Nat has a lot of bones to pick with the powers-that-be in Nashville, it seems to me that the magazine itself and its publisher Jann Wenner have an axe to grind as well. Possibly. I don't know the magazine well - but I do know that some Mainstream Country fans believe (rightly or wrongly) that it is biased against their format. It's been giving good, appreciative coverage of Ashley Monroe (as an example) - but she is hardly typical of the Mainstream as a whole. Nevertheless, she is currently striving for Mainstream chart success, in her two roles as a solo artist, and as "Hippie Annie" in the trio she was largely responsible for getting together. As such, I think it's questionable whether this RS headline is calculated to do her any favours with the Nashville establishment: www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/the-new-troublemakers-20130603/ashley-monroe-0184498Her reply to fans was: "Let's just say I know when to stir things up if I need to"
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Post by erik on Jun 6, 2013 11:46:52 GMT -8
Quote by Bingo:
Well, I don't think it's too much of a secret that RS does consider most post-Chicks mainstream country music to be a joke at best. This is why I think there is a slight hint of "Gotcha!" in their interview with Natalie. They may not really care about either her or her album; they just like to stick it to the Nashville elite.
However, I have seen them do these kinds of "Gotcha!" interviews with other artists, to get them to say something snippy which will make them look bad with fans and the public in general. I would not put anything past them or Wenner.
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