Home is the sixth studio album by American country music band Dixie Chicks, released on August 27, 2002, through Monument and Columbia Records. It is notable for its acoustic bluegrass sound, which stands in contrast with their previous two country pop albums.
The group was promoting the album when lead singer Natalie Maines made controversial comments about U.S. President George W. Bush criticizing his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The album's third single, "Travelin' Soldier", was #1 on the Billboard Country Chart the week that Maines' comments hit the press.[1] The following week, as many stations started a still-standing boycott of the Chicks' music, the song collapsed. None of their following singles gained traction with country radio. Despite these events, the album was certified 6× Multi-platinum status by the RIAA and has sold 5,979,000 copies in the United States up to November 2008.[2] The album also featured a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide", which was their biggest pop crossover hit until 2007, when "Not Ready to Make Nice" peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was also successful in Australia, in its 175th week in the country charts it was certified Triple Platinum for shipments of 210,000 copies.[3]
"Landslide" was originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1975. "Travelin' Soldier" was originally recorded by its writer, Bruce Robison, in 1996, and then in rewritten form, in 1999; Ty England also recorded the song in 1999. "Godspeed" was originally recorded by Radney Foster in 1999; his wife suggested sending it to the Dixie Chicks because Natalie Maines had just had a baby. "Long Time Gone" and "More Love" were originally recorded by Darrell Scott in 2000. "Truth No. 2" and "Top of the World" were originally recorded by Patty Griffin for a 2000 album that went unreleased. "I Believe in Love" made its debut on the 2001 telethon America: A Tribute to Heroes.
"Long Time Gone" was released on May 23, 2002 as the lead single from the record. It received positive reviews, with many critics noting the unique bluegrass and acoustic sound that was atypical of mainstream country music at the time. The song debuted at number 37 on the Hot Country Songs (then titled the "Hot Country Singles & Tracks") chart on June 8, 2002 and later rose up to its peak position of number two on August 24. The song also ended up peaking at number seven on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group's first top ten hit on the chart.
A cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, "Landslide" was released on August 26, 2002, as the second single from the album and the only one to be released to adult contemporary radio. The song was also the "Hot Shot Debut" of the week of September 7 (at country radio), debuting at number 32 and peaking at number two on the country charts on November 9. It also topped the Adult Contemporary chart, making it the group's only number one hit on that chart. It went to become the second top ten hit from the album on the Hot 100, peaking at number seven. The song also peaked within the top ten in Canada and Australia.
"Travelin' Soldier" was released on December 9, 2002 as the third single from Home. It was performed a year before its release at the 2001 CMA Awards, footage of which was later used as the song's music video. The song initially debuted on the country charts based solely on its live performance on February 16, 2002, at number 58, peaking at number 57. In its official release as a single, it re-entered the chart on December 14, 2002, at number 57. The song would go on to top the Hot Country Songs chart the week of March 22, 2003.
"Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" was released on May 22, 2003, as the fourth single from the album. It debuted on the country charts at number 59 on June 7, 2003.
The album's fifth and final single, "Top of the World" was released in September 2003. The song was originally written by Patty Griffin, who had tried to record the song, but a dispute with her label led her to get dropped and the album project shelved.
The album received positive reviews. Metacritic gave the album an aggregated score of 75 (green label), indicating "generally favorable reviews".[4]
Rhapsody ranked the album #1 on its list of "Country's Best Albums of the Decade".[15] Another music blog, Country Universe, named it as the album of the decade.[16]CMT's Craig Shelburne included it on his "A Dozen Favorite Country Albums of the Decade" list.[17] Engine 145 country music blog lists it No. 4 on the "Top Country Albums of the Decade" list.[18]Entertainment Weekly put the album on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying: "Even George W. Bush fans have to respect the Chicks' authentic bluegrass sound on 'Long Time Gone' and 'Landslide'. Okay, maybe they don't. But they should."[19]Allmusic said "They've delivered not just their best album, but what's arguably the best country album yet released in the 2000s. Needless to say, an instant classic."[20]
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