I don’t consider myself a huge country music fan; that is, until a song by The Chicks (formerly known as The Dixie Chicks) comes on. Maybe it’s because I was raised on their classics like Travelin’ Solider, Wide Open Spaces, and Not Ready to Make Nice, but when a Chicks song comes on I suddenly develop a thick southern twang and feel like buying a pair of cowboy boots. The Chicks is a trio consisting of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Strayer (vocals, guitar, banjo, Dobro).
The release of Home in August 2002 (temporarily) marked the Chicks’ status as the quintessential ‘All-American’ girl group. The album performed exceptionally well on the charts—it was certified platinum six times over by March 2003. The trio even performed the U.S. national anthem at Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003. In his book Rednecks & Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music, author Chris Willman reminisces on how the unexpected success of The Chicks’ 2002 album Home brought together “mainstream country populists, alt-country snobs, rock singer/songwriter partisans, bluegrass buffs, hillbillies, hippies, soccer moms, NASCAR stepdads… for about six [peaceful] months anyways.” I think it would be safe for Willman to add, retrospectively, college-aged girls everywhere to his list.
What happened to disrupt those six months of global success for The Chicks, you might wonder? The impending U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. On the brink of the invasion in March 2003, while preforming the London date of their Top of the World Tour, lead singer Natalie Maines introduced the song ‘Travelin’ Soldier’ with these words: “just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.” It was this anti-President Bush statement, heard around the world, that would rock country music and The Chicks to their core.
Unsurprisingly, this statement was poorly received by their fan base of predominantly right-wing country music listeners. Outraged fans demanded The Chicks’ music be removed from airwaves, and radio stations delivered. Thus began one of the earliest instances of one being ‘cancelled’ in the twenty-first century, fifteen years before ‘cancel culture’ became popular vernacular. The Chicks were blacklisted by country radio. Their CDs were burned. They lost tour dates and brand deals. Anti-Dixie Chicks concerts were held. Lead singer Natalie Maines received death threats. Toby Keith, another big name in country music, doctored a photo that made it seem like Maines was hugging Saddam Hussein and distributed copies at his concerts.
How did The Chicks survive this uproar? They didn’t back down. Instead of backtracking and claiming that they didn’t mean what they said, they remained true to their values. The trio emphasized that they supported American troops, just not their commander-in-chief, President Bush. They continued to question why the war in Iraq was even taking place. For this, they were given countless labels, both good and bad, such as ‘dixie sluts,’ ‘traitors,’ ‘patriots,’ ‘big mouth,’ ‘opinionated,’ ‘Saddam’s angels,’ ‘hippies,’ and more. In response, The Chicks posed for the May 2003 cover of Entertainment Weekly nude, covered in all those labels and then some. They took all the awful things being said about them, put it all over their bodies, and then on the front of a magazine.
The boycotts of country radio and the wider country music fanbase gave The Chicks a silver lining: the freedom to do whatever they wanted with their music. A little over three years after the controversy sparked, The Chicks released their seventh studio album, Taking The Long Way. Despite their controversial status in country music, Taking The Long Way yielded mass success: debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, was certified platinum two times over, and won five Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. The album has been described as a manifesto to non-conformity, with direct references to the controversy and backlash after Maines’ anti-Bush comments in 2003. My personal two favourite songs from the album are Not Ready to Make Nice and the titular track, The Long Way Around.
Not Ready to Make Nice is one of my favourite songs ever. It succinctly echoes the attitude that The Chicks adopted from the start of the controversy: refusing to back down and maintaining their truth. The end of the chorus captures this sentiment perfectly stating, “it’s too late to make it right, I probably wouldn’t if I could, cause I’m mad as hell, can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should.” One of the verses directly references the death threats Maines received saying, “how in the world can the words that I said/send somebody so over the edge/that they’d write me a letter/saying that I better/shut up and sing/or my life will be over?” The song tells us that through everything, The Chicks do not regret what happened. The trio spoke out about something that frustrated them, something they felt passionate about, and they honoured those feelings by not backing down in the face of controversy.
These messages can also be heard in the lyrics of The Long Way Around. Referencing the controversy, Maines sings, “it’s been two long years now since the top of the world came crashing down, and I’m getting’ it back on the road now, but I’m taking the long way around.” It’s a song about forging your own path. It’s about having faith in yourself and staying true to your values. In reference to the fight between The Chicks and Bush (I consider it a ‘fight’ because Bush did speak out about the whole controversy), the bridge of the song features the lyrics, “I fought with a stranger and I met myself, I opened my mouth and I heard myself, it can get pretty lonely when you show yourself, guess I could’ve made it easier on myself, but I could never follow, no I could never follow.” The song is a reminder that there is no ‘standard’ path to life.
So what has happened with The Chicks since The Long War Around? Following the release of the album at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, the Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing documentary was released. It remains one of my favourite documentaries (and I am an avid documentary watcher). After the release of the documentary, the band toured their album, then went on hiatus to spend time with their respective families until 2010. Since then, they’ve continued to perform at various festivals, accompanying other artists on tour, and headlining their own tours. They changed their name from the ‘Dixie Chicks’ to ‘The Chicks’ in June 2020 due to racist connotations of the word ‘dixie’. The Chicks didn’t release new music until their newest album, Gaslighter, in July 2020, and since the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down in recent months, they’ve announced an upcoming tour across North America and Europe.
The longevity of both The Chicks’ music and their reputation as a band gives me the impression that they’ve done something right. I think what they’ve done the best, what has kept them close to fans’ hearts all these years, is staying true to themselves. Their activism and passion for social justice have never ceased over the years, and their music continues to reflect that. The Chicks show us that standing up for what you believe in is always worth it, no matter how hard it may seem. I’ve come to realize that the reason I love the band so much is not just because I grew up listening to them, but because they are a group of strong, outspoken women who stay true to their values in the face of strife. The country trio embodies some of the most important qualities in people: integrity, passion, drive, and a desire to change the world for the better. Next time you need some good country music while getting ready for Tumble Tuesday at Ale House, look no further than The Chicks.
