My Husband's Girlfriend's Husband: The Chicks Bare All In Empowering Return
Photo courtesy of The Chicks’ Facebook page
The Chicks (Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer, and Martie Maguire) are midday drives with my parents, legs swinging from a carseat and cloudy skies. They are the seashells reverberating off of standup speakers in the living room of my Aunt, Thanksgivings on the beach and learning harmonies. They are the banjo I got for my sixteenth birthday, the nights spent trying to replicate their art, the daydreams of finding a cowboy to take me away. Natalie, Martie, and Emily have seemingly always been there - surrogate mothers, distant relatives. Auditory comfort.
There is still much of this comfort on Gaslighter. The original sound of The Chicks is all but lost, the swooping fiddle instrumental on “Everybody Loves You” reminiscent of “Without You” and even “Wide Open Spaces”.
It is almost as if the fictional storyline in “You Were Mine” off of The Chicks’ debut album, Wide Open Spaces, that of a forlorn woman left by her ex-husband to take care of her two young children, foreshadowed Maines’ own predicament. However, Gaslighter infuses the narrative with all of the gumption of “Not Ready to Make Nice” and “Goodbye Earl” - this time, the wife refuses to back down.
Hell hath no fury like a woman, or a Chick, scorned.
In an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music it is mentioned that the album follows the phases of grief, whether intentional or not. “Even though it is somewhat of a breakup album, you kind of touch on all aspects of emotions so it kind of makes for some fun songs and some not,” shared Strayer. This growth begins with the namesake lead single, “Gaslighter”, a raucous call-out anthem targeted at the lies and manipulation of Maine’s cheating ex-husband, Adrian Pasdar. The track follows the tale of the couples’ move to California for Pasdar to pursue his acting career, derailing Maines and the group for his own benefit. It devolves into a chorus of chants, all three women shouting at Pasdar - “Gaslighter, denier, doing anything to get your ass farther.” The major chord progressions and sing-along qualities of the refrain provide an optimistic approach to an otherwise devastating narrative.
This juxtaposition between instrumentation and lyrics continues into “Sleep At Night”. While a banjo lick underscores the verses, Maines sings, “My husband’s girlfriend’s husband just called me up/ How messed up is that?.../ But then I think of our two boys trying to become men/ There’s nothing funny about that.”
Pop influence is infused in the other qualities of the track. Modern drums, including those performed by Maines’ son Beckett Pasdar, keep the tempo. Background harmonies reflect those of current hits. This is the mark of Jack Antonoff, the album’s lead producer. Maines stated, “A fiddle and a banjo and three-part harmony is nothing you can turn into something else, but you can bring those things to songs that would not be what people would think of as an automatic fit.” Julia Michaels, pop songwriting aficionado , is another fresh voice on this album. Her cheekiness can be heard on the likes of “Texas Man”, a track encouraging Maines to get back onto the dating scene amidst her blind rage. “Been way too long since somebody’s body kept me up all night,” she muses.
Following the stages of grief, denial is evident in “Everybody Loves You”, a track exploring Maines’ attempts to grapple with the fact that those around her husband do not resent, or even know of, his actions. It is the first bit of genuine sadness that we hear instrumentally, Maguire’s violin practically wailing. Reflection comes with “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, a brief moment of pause where Maines recounts her meeting with Pasdar and his subsequent negative influence - “I’m better off without your gloom and your doom.” As she finds herself at her best friend’s second wedding and observes her growth “from ashes”, a new chant begins: “Go it alone.” There is something reminiscent here to the early Chicks’ hit, “Ready to Run.” Hesitancy to commit, reluctancy to settle down, and a glorification of self-reliance. It is empowering and reaffirming.
This newfound confidence in being alone follows with Michaels' co-written “Julianna Calm Down.” A simple organ carries the track, a lighthearted ode from The Chicks to the young girls in their life. Each of their daughters and nieces are named in the last chorus, a personal reminder to move with grace from the end of any relationship. “Show off your best moves/ And do it with a smile so he doesn’t notice.”
The final three tracks are the heaviest, but perhaps the most powerful. “Young Man” is a letter from Maines to her two sons, a reminder that despite the failings of their father they do not need to internalize his negative characteristics. Strayer plays the acoustic guitar as well as the dobro, and Maguire’s violin sweeps in before the bridge. It is difficult to not feel the love that Maines has for her children, a continuation of “Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)” off of their 2002 album Home and “Lullaby” off of 2006’s The Long Way Around. However, this is a new perspective, a different take. “You’re of me, not mine.../ My blues aren’t your blues,” sings Maines.
The completion of the grief cycle, acceptance, comes with “Hope It’s Something Good”. Accompanied by Lloyd Maines’ famous pedal steel, the ballad confirms that Maines’ marriage has come to an end. She laments on “twenty years of hanging on” that may have meant nothing, but reinstates that there was only so much fighting she could do. This conclusion produces a newfound sense of freedom that she requests on the final track, “Set Me Free”. As she pleads for Pasdar to sign their divorce papers, she also pleads for her own liberation. “Just because you’ve been a bad guy/ I’ve seen it with my own eyes/ There’s a good guy in there,” she begs. This is the only track on the album with solo vocals, a spotlight on Maines’ own strength and, now, independence.
Pressure from a fourteen year hiatus did little to shake the talent of The Chicks. If anything, their matured life experience and perspective has empowered a voiceless population of women. Never ones to shy away from adversity, they have tackled the delicate nature of divorce with humility and brutal honesty, all in perfect harmony.
Gaslighter is available on all streaming services.