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Nashville country may be dead in the water, but this—by far the biggest-selling album last week—demonstrates how the corpse might be reanimated. On paper the Dixie Chicks look like another slice of Opryland cheese, but this recording has more in common with the Sugar Hill-era Dolly Parton side of country than with the Faith Hill end. Home, the Chicks’ first album for its own Open Wide imprint through Sony Nashville and third for Sony-owned Monument, was produced by the group and singer Natalie Maines’ father, Texas music legend Lloyd Maines. With its swells of acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins and fiddles and no drums, it’s a lot more down home than its predecessor, the glossier Fly from 1999. Savvy song choices from Patti Griffin, Radney Foster and Darrell Scott, a remarkably non-skanky Stevie Nicks cover (“Landslide”), and a pair of group co-writes with Marty Stuart make this a worthwhile effort.