Dixie Chicks Burn It All Down With New Song 'Gaslighter'
After a long, long hiatus, the Dixie Chicks are finally back. The country-pop trio have released “Gaslighter,” the lead single from their upcoming album of the same name, and their first since 2006.
Co-written with and produced by Jack Antonoff, “Gaslighter” is a fiery anthem inspired by divorce, particularly Natalie Maines’ prolonged legal battle to separate from her ex-husband. “Gaslighter/Denier/Doing anything to get your ass farther,” the Chicks belt out on the chorus. “Gaslighter/Big-timer/Repeating all of the mistakes of your father.”
The video, directed by Seanne Farmer, sees the Chicks wearing military outfits on television, cut together with archival clips of old Hollywood performances, Coney Island getaways, and other images of vintage Americana.
In an interview with Zane Lowe on Wednesday, revealed that “Gaslighter” was not only the lead single of their new album, but also the first song they ever wrote with Antonoff.
“At the time, we thought we were gonna write with a bunch of different people and get different producers, and we wrote with him and we’re like, ‘He needs to produce it,’ ” Emily Strayer said. “This needs to be the sound for this album, ’cause he blew us away. It was such a fun song to start with.”
Martie Maguire added that the trio kept returning to that first team of writers for the album “because it was just such a great team of people to tap into. The sound that was shaping up — like Emily said, it started with that ‘Gaslighter’ sound, and then it was easier to kind of complete all the] sounds once you kind of had that lead song, you know?”
Gaslighter, out May 1st, will be the follow-up to the Dixie Chicks’ Grammy-winning 2006 album, Taking the Long Way. In 2016, the group embarked on a stadium comeback tour, and this past December they performed at Antonoff’s Ally Coalition benefit concert in New York.