Apolitical Band Gets Call to Conscience Country Trio Turns Angst to Good Measure with New Mainstream Act March 20, 2007

ack in 2003, the Dixie Chicks were perform- ing sound checks across the Atlantic as Ameri- can troops advanced on Iraq. Little did they know that Bthe war was about to open up on another front. On the afternoon before their concert in London, the biggest U.K. anti-war protest in history drew over a million people out in the streets to condemn the inva- sion. The adrenalin was still flowing thick when the musicians ap- All photos copyright 2006 Cabin Creek Films peared on stage that night. Be- Robison, Maines and Maguire talk to the press in Shut Up and Sing! tween songs, lead vocalist Natalie Opry. partisan politics. During those Maines, 28, added her sentiments Maguire played the fiddle patriotic times when America to the debate. while Robison twanged on her was waging war against Osama “Just so you know,” she told banjo and slide guitar. Lead vocal- bin Laden, the Dixie Chicks were the audience, “we’re on the good ist Natalie Maines, the daughter of called upon to sing the national side with y’all. We do not want steel guitar legend Lloyd Maines, anthem at the Super Bowl. this war, this violence, and we’re joined up in the mid nineties and “Country music sort of puts their ashamed that the President of the the band developed a more con- musicians in a box,” Barbara United States is from Texas.” temporary sound. Kopple, the veteran documentary The fans went wild. Nowadays, Maines is the filmmaker, says of the band in a Back in the U.S., the world of driving force behind the band. recent interview with the news country music also reacted. And it Born in 1974, not long after the show Democracy Now. “They’re wasn’t pretty. death of Jim Morrison, her angst- expected to be very conservative filled vocals and grasp of political in their leanings, and these were Who are these girls, anyway? undercurrents suggest fascinat- three all-American girls that no- ing parallels with the former rock body ever expected this from.” At the time, most Americans icon. Maines has two kids, an Kopple followed the band for outside the red states had barely actor husband, lives in Los Ange- three years in the course of mak- heard of the Dixie Chicks. Mar- les, and has no drug habit that we ing her new film, “Shut Up and tie Maguire and her sister Emily know of. Sing”. (See sidebar.) Robison started the group in 1989. With five children between When the Associated Press With their square dance dresses them, Robison and Maguire still picked up the presidential slight and Dollie Parton hairdos, in the call the Lone-Star state their home. from the London Guardian and beginning they looked like some- However, in 2003, the trio sent it across the wire, it didn’t thing straight out of the Grand Ol’ was not known for taking sides in continued have been nominated at all. Even though their latest studio release, “Taking the Long Way” reached number one on both the Billboard and country music charts within hours of hitting store shelves, ticket sales for the 2006 tour had tanked. There was talk of canceling shows. And the country radio boycott continued. Like Dante’s hero, however, the girls would rise up from the ashes. They not only picked up best album again in the country category, they won for best re- cord, song and album of the year overall. In fact, they captured the Role Model to Die For. Natalie Maines, the Dixie Chicks’ lead vocalist, started the top prize in all five categories for whole controversy with an anti-war remark and dig at President Bush. which they were nominated. take long for American conserva- deejays at their 270 local affiliates It was an incredible rebound tives to react. to pull all Dixie Chicks play until after taking such a tumble. The G.O.P. nerve center in further notice. And they did it by straying far Washington immediately sent All this time the band was from the country western genre out talking points. Soon Pat on the other side of the world when they revamped their act in Buchanan was calling the Chicks fulfilling their tour obligations. 2005. For the first time, they wrote “bimbos” on national television. Between gigs in Dublin, Munich all their own songs. The new CD Bill O’Reilly of Fox fame said he and Sidney, Maines issued an taps into that edgy strain of back- thought the women “needed to be apology to the President and reas- in-your-face commentary popular- slapped around”. sured fans that her support for the ized by Alanis Morrisette and the Then a web-based group call- troops hadn’t flagged. Cranberries a decade ago. ing itself Free Republic organized Free Republic was having The band even sent man- a boycott. Around the country, none of that. When the girls re- ager Simon Renshaw to testify radio stations were flooded with turned to start the domestic leg of at a Senate hearing on broadcast calls demanding that songs by the their tour, hired guns from the ra- censorship. According to Kopple, Chicks be taken off the air. Ac- dio stations met them at the gates. “What’s so wonderful is that the cording to the callers, Maines and Local TV news cameras were Dixie Chicks are in charge of every the others had turned their back rolling as angry fans tossed Dixie single thing that goes on in their on the troops. Chicks CD’s into garbage barrels. world. They are totally strategic. Ironically, at the time, the song In June, Natalie Maines re- And they are so against media topping the charts was the Dixie ceived a note saying she would be conglomeration.” Chicks’ Travelin’ Soldier. The bal- assassinated on July 6, 2003. The In the end, the arch-conserva- lad pays tribute to an American Dixie Chicks were scheduled to tives correctly assessed the danger serviceman killed in the Vietnam perform that night in Dallas. of one crass remark made by an War. Not exactly a rallying call to assertive female with a guitar in arms, but it sold well enough to Vindication hand and a contract with Sony. become the top country song soon And like most hair-brained con- after its release. If you watched the Gram- spiracies hatched by the fringe Within a couple weeks of the mies in February, you already right in recent years, this one had boycott, the song had plummeted know how this tale turns out. No backfired big time. into obscurity. It didn’t hurt strangers to that award show, all that Free Republic got help in its three of the Dixie Chicks’ previ- Copyright 2007 boycott campaign from two major ous albums won top honors in the The City Edition of San Francisco broadcast networks. Executives country category. This year the www.thecityedition.com from Cox and Cumulus ordered women counted their blessings to