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

Darrell Scott James Darrell Scott (born August 6, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He has written several mainstream country hits, and is well-established as one of Nashville's premier session instrumentalists. B ...

, 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 (formerly the Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Stra ...

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

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

''.

Content

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

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

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 outlook on the future of music.

Dixie Chicks version

American country music band

the Chicks The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Strayer ...

, then known as Dixie Chicks, recorded the song for their 2002 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 along with digital sales and streaming. ...

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

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

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. Bluegrass has roots in African America ...

, 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 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 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

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 advertis ...

'' 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."

Charts

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 Nashville, Tennessee