[The Nicks Fix]

CMT
August 2002

Interview on CMT.com with the Dixie Chicks with a phone-in by Stevie.

It's really interesting that some people have actually heard some of this music from Home before because, of course, the single "Long Time Gone." But you guys did [Bruce Robison's] "Travelin' Soldier" on the CMA Awards Show last November.

Emily: We've all been Bruce Robison fans for a long time -- even before I was a part of his family. I'm married to his brother, Charlie, and we heard the song probably two or three years ago. It didn't necessarily make sense on the last two albums. When we decided to do something more acoustic, we kept going back to this song just because it was one of those ones that we loved so much and we really felt like our harmonies and our instrumentation would add to it. I am so happy to know that he likes our version of the song. But it was really special to do the song on the CMA's not because it directly related to 9/11, but just because of the sentiment and it put people in a place to want to hear a song like that.

Martie: You can see in the audience when we play, you can tell the people who have family overseas fighting the war. They get very emotional on this one.

We have some surprises tonight. Right now we have on the phone, Stevie Nicks.

Stevie: I'm in L.A. I just wanted to tell you guys I'm so excited about your record company -- your record company. I'm so excited about your record coming out today and about "Landslide" and I just love you guys so much. I'm so excited for the world to hear this music, because the world needs this music.

Natalie: Are you happy with "Landslide"? We get asked that all day long.

Dial tone. The phone has been disconnected.

Dixie Chicks (laughing): Oh, no …

I guess not. She hung up. I'm not sure she likes "Landslide." The song was just released as a single and debuted extremely high on the charts. While we're trying to get Stevie back on the line, let's talk a little bit about the song. Natalie, you brought this to everybody. This was your idea.

Natalie: Yeah, I'll take credit for this one. We all knew it was a great song -- and no songs get on the album unless we all love them. But I was listening to this in the car one day in Austin. I've known the song … I could have sung the song five years ago, but it never hit me like it did at this age. And after having a child and taking some time off and growing and maturing, I just really connected to the song. We already sort of knew the direction that we wanted to take with these recordings. I just heard how we could do it, and it turned out just like it was in my head, and we love it.

I think we have Stevie back.

Stevie: What do I think of "Landslide"? I love it and since I got to go to Las Vegas and actually sing it with the girls, that was such a treat for me. I think we ended up in a four-part harmony. You know, I remember sitting in some house in Colorado in like 1973, with a beautiful view in someone's big beautiful home where I had gone to dinner or something. I took my guitar and I went into this beautiful room and I sat and I wrote "Landslide." I can remember it and seeing it through my eyes when I was, gosh, in my early 20s and then through my eyes all the way up until now -- and through you guys' eyes. It's really quite an amazing metamorphosis for this song from generation to generation to generation and I'm so proud to be a part of it.

Natalie: Thank you. We wish we had a pinky of song writing talent that you have.

Stevie: Well ….

The question is, Stevie: When you wrote this, did you envision banjo in this?

No response.

Natalie: Oh, is she gone again? Banjo is a sore subject with a lot of people.

Emily: This was a tough song for me to get used to the idea of doing just because it is such a famous song. When you pick something like this you want to do it justice and you want either do it better than the original artist or completely different. I knew we couldn't do it any better than Stevie. It was really a matter of can we put a new twist on it and so, really, our instrumentation and our harmonies helped do that.

We have some more surprises coming up later. Now I want to go to Martha, in Austin, Texas.

Martha: I want to know what it was like for y'all … speaking of Stevie Nicks … the longevity that she's had? She's such a great songwriter. Were y'all awestruck when you worked with her? Does she inspire you?

Emily: You know, she doesn't make you feel like that. We would be, but she is so warm and such a supporter. A lot of females in this industry are supportive of each other. I think that with people like Stevie Nicks and Emmylou Harris, who have been through it all, they have lots of advice. Stevie is so open with her life and her history and her mistakes and just supports us and came out to our show in California and sat there through the whole set and just looked really into it. She's always an inspiration to talk to, let alone listen to her song writing and her music. She'll even write me these little notes and things that are as poetic as her lyrics. She's just a brilliant, beautiful writer.

Have you ever talked about writing songs with her?

Natalie: She said if we have melodies and things, to send them on and she would write lyrics. So when we're writing for the next album, that might be something that we look into. She's a great lyricist. She writes a lot on her own. She had a good story. She was talking to Tom Petty before she made this last record of hers and wasn't feeling inspired or that she could write anything. She asked him, "Come write with me." He said. "You don't need me to write with you. You can write all about yourself. She went home and wrote a song about that on the new album which … what was that called? Something like this, " I write my songs myself/And that made me stronger, made me hold on."

Emily: A perfect example of her personality: We were at the Divas Live show. Martie and I were talking about throwing me a baby shower. And, she was so like, "Would you invite me to your baby shower." I was going, "Stevie Nicks is asking me if she can come to my baby shower. That would be a yes."


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