"Long Time Gone" is a bluegrass song by American musician

Darrell Scott James Darrell Scott, known as Darrell Scott (born August 6, 1959), is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. The son of musician Wayne Scott, he moved as a child to East Gary, Indiana (known today as Lake Station, Indiana). ...

, originally recorded by him on his 2000 album ''Real Time'' which Scott recorded together with Tim O'Brien. The song was later covered by the American band

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) an ...

, and served as the lead single to their 2002 album ''

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. ...

''.

Content

The song chronicles a young person's journey away from his family farm to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

to become a musician, and eventually back to his hometown, where he settles down to raise a family. The song's last verse criticizes contemporary country music as having no soul, referencing several famous country musicians: Despite its upbeat bluegrass melody, the song's lyrics resolve to a very

pessimistic Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is " Is the glass half emp ...

outlook on the future of music.

Dixie Chicks version

American country music band

The Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and ...

, then known as Dixie Chicks, recorded the song for their 2003 album ''

''. Released in May 2002 as the lead single, it reached a peak of number 2 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart and number 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Their version won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. The Chicks' version, like the rest of ''Home'', features heavy influence of

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it la ...

, with fiddle and banjo, and no drums. The song's sound and message were described by journalist Bill Frisicks-Warren as atypical of country music at the time, although group member

Martie Maguire Martha Elenor Maguire (née Erwin, previously Seidel; October 12, 1969) is an American musician who is a founding member of both the all-female alternative country band The Chicks and country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in ...

said she did not consider the song to be a "statement". Prior to the song's release to radio, the band performed it on the VH1 show '' Divas Las Vegas'' on May 23, 2002 and released it to radio that same day.

Critical reception

Chuck Taylor of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' reviewed the single favorably, calling it "good old-fashioned country" while praising the use of fiddle and banjo in the production. Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe ranked it as the best song by the Chicks, writing that "It features the same empowered energy of their best hits...but with a sharper edge and a complete refusal to mince words as they slice and dice the contemporary country landscape that they still ruled at the time."

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2000 songs 2002 singles The Chicks songs Music videos directed by Marcus Raboy Songs written by Darrell Scott Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Lloyd Maines Songs about country music Songs about Tennessee