Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

From left: Maguire, Maines and Robison of the Dixie Chicks.
(photo by: Jill Greenberg for TIME)



From the Magazine | Cover
In the Line of Fire
THEY'VE TAKEN THEIR HITS, AND NOW THE DIXIE CHICKS HIT BACK WITH WHAT MAY BE THE BEST ADULT POP CD OF THE YEAR. ER, WILL ANYONE BUY IT?
By JOSH TYRANGIEL

Posted Sunday, May 21, 2006
Natalie Maines is one of those people born middle finger first.

As a high school senior in Lubbock, Texas, she'd skip a class a day in an attempt to prove that because she never got caught and some Mexican students did, the system was racist. After Maines joined the Dixie Chicks, and the Dixie Chicks became the biggest-selling female group in music history--with suspiciously little cash to show for it--she and her bandmates told their record label, Sony, they were declaring themselves free agents. (In the high school that is Nashville, this is way worse than skipping class.) Now that she's truly notorious, having told a London audience in 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas," Maines has one regret: the apology she offered George W. Bush at the onset of her infamy. "I apologized for disrespecting the office of the President," says Maines. "But I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."

A sizable chunk of their once adoring audience feels the same way about the Dixie Chicks. After Maines' pronouncement, which was vigorously seconded by bandmates Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, the group received death threats and was banned by thousands of country radio stations, many of which still have informal bans in place. The Dixie Chicks have mass appeal--you can't sell 10 million copies of two of your three albums without engaging lots of different people--but country radio is an indispensable part of how they reach people. Programmers say that even now a heartfelt apology could help set things right with listeners, but it's not happening. "If people are going to ask me to apologize based on who I am," says Maines, "I don't know what to do about that. I can't change who I am."

As proof, the first single from the Dixie Chicks' new album, Taking the Long Way (out May 23), is called Not Ready to Make Nice. It is, as one country radio programmer says, "a four-minute f___-you to the format and our listeners. I like the Chicks, and I won't play it." Few other stations are playing Not Ready to Make Nice, and while it has done well on iTunes, it's quite possible that in singing about their anger at people who were already livid with them and were once their target audience, the Chicks have written their own ticket to the pop-culture glue factory. "I guess if we really cared, we wouldn't have released that single first," says Maguire. "That was just making people mad. But I don't think it was a mistake."

Whether the Dixie Chicks recover their sales luster or not, the choice of single has turned their album release into a referendum. Taking the Long Way's existence is designed to thumb its nose at country's intolerance for ideological hell raising, and buying it or cursing it reveals something about you and your politics--or at least your ability to put a grudge above your listening pleasure. And however you vote, it's tough to deny that by gambling their careers, three Texas women have the biggest balls in American music.

Continue...

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I've never been a fan of country western music but I'm buying their album because I like their attitude.

Amen sister, they are takin their licks.

I saw on th Country Music Awards last nite this skinny country redhead said
of th Dixie Chicks,
"It's a wonder they can sing with their foot in their mouth!"
That got howls and extended applause.
Should I say stupid or what,

I mean, see the undercurrent of tribal anger there. They praise their lord
and dump on th Dixie Chiquitas, amiga!

Glad to see they are stillrocking!

http://www.natespace.com/Chronicle_Art/ ... hicks.html

I mean, see the undercurrent of tribal anger there.

Oh yeah. Tribe, and going against the tribes wishes is a good reference. On page 4 of that same article he writes (emphasis added by me) ...

Country music has never been particularly classy, which is one of its principal charms. Less charming is its defensiveness about its station. Unlike rock fans, most of whom are attracted to the music's integration of styles, some country fans--particularly those who call up radio stations in a lather--take it upon themselves to patrol a wall of genre purity. Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash got passes because they were sui generis. Not so Buck Owens, who in 1965, after a few experimental dalliances, took out an advertisement with a career-saving loyalty oath, "Pledge to Country Music," in the Music City News, promising, "I Shall Sing No Song That Is Not a Country Song." Even now, acts that other listeners reflexively think of as country, from McGraw to Willie Nelson to Shania Twain, are often disparaged for keeping an eye on the Hot 100, playing noncountry songs or showing a little navel. The message from hard-core listeners is, Stay behind the wall.

"Stay behind the wall..."
aka
Get back in that box, don't you dare cross the lines we've drawn up for you.

continued from page 4:

This is what talented musicians are supposed to do: aspire to get better, braver. But at each step of their evolution, from their feud with Sony (ungrateful!) to the bluegrass album, Home (not country enough!), and then, of course, the Incident, the genre's wrath hovered like a jealous boyfriend. "Their old audience feels a little betrayed, a little left behind maybe," says CMT's Philips. That may explain why, as the Chicks and country began their breakup, country fans ran into the arms of brilliant redneck instigator Toby Keith, who displayed a doctored photo of Maines and Saddam Hussein at his concerts.

It also explains why the Dixie Chicks have made such a point of saying good riddance. "I'd rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it," says Maguire, "who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."

I love the Dixie Chicks and may they just keep on giving their middle finger salute to the tribe for as long as it's needed.

Lone Star
Kris Kristofferson, walking tall down 'This Old Road'


KK:

I don't regret a word I've written. How could you regret something you wrote that you believed in? I've believed every word I've written.

AC:

Some people would say the smart thing for folks like you and the Dixie Chicks is just to shut up and sing.

KK:

I would say back, "Shut up and listen." The communication that I make through my songs is something I've been able to make for a while. And I'll probably just continue to do it. It's the way I express myself most effectively. If I'm just talking about how pissed off I am that we're attacking people unprovoked and bombing innocents that never committed a sin, nobody's going to listen. But if I can make somebody stop and feel something in a song I've written, they might be moved by it. You're halfway to change right there.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/d ... ature.html

Country Musick has for years been hijacked by ignorant rednecks producing musically-awful crap filled with commecial culture advertising (for trucks n' beer) and nationalist propaganda (all those stupid jingoist-hawkish Red White and Blue gonna drop bombs on you, songs). Amen that someone within this decadent industry is taking a stand for real freedom, the freedom to resist the policies of the government.

It is not just country music. Cut and Paste from the Future of Music Coalition:


Commercial Radio Station Ownership Consolidation
Shown to Harm Artists and the Public, Says FMC Study

Small Number of Gatekeepers Dominate Access to Critical Public Resource

Ten parent companies dominate the radio spectrum, radio listenership and radio revenues. An industry traditionally local in nature is now dominated by ten parent companies that control two thirds of both listeners and revenue nationwide. Two parent companies – Clear Channel and Viacom – control 42 percent of listeners and 45 percent of industry revenues.


Oligopolies control almost every geographic market. In virtually every local market, four or less firms control 70 percent of market share or greater. In a majority of cases, these oligopolies include one or more of the dominant national players. This has led directly to a loss of localism, as independent station owners have difficulty competing with the resources of huge conglomerates.


Virtually every music format is controlled by an oligopoly, with four companies or fewer controlling over 50 percent of national listeners in 28 of 32 formats according to three separate measures: self-reported formats, BIA format categories and Radio and Records-based categories. A very small number of gatekeepers control access to the majority of listeners to specific formats.


Claims about increased format diversity are misleading. From 1996 to 2000 format variety – the average number of formats available in a market – increased in both large and small markets. However, format variety is not equivalent to true diversity in programming. Analysis of music chart data in the report reveals considerable format homogeneity, with many songs overlapping on various format playlists.

http://www.futureofmusic.org/news/PRradiostudy.cfm

And what a great tribute:

Natalie Maines is one of those people born middle finger first.

from deb's initial post taken from Time.

brilliant.

Oh hell yes...

In this case, the "patriotic" shitkickers are full of shit. End of story.

I'm not into the Dixie Chicks but it's interesting to see that a Country and Western group is taking a stand against George Bush jr. Usually Country and Western is where I would find those who support George Bush jr no matter how wrong he will be.
_________________
Honda CHF50P

I saw Larry th Cabullshit guy on Don Imus this mawning. Imus said he likes the Dixie Chicks but agrees with Larry that they should just "shut up and sing." This is bullshit. Hey, the former Attorney Gerbil, whazzhisname from Misery, he was featured singing "when the eagle soars" in Mickey Moore's movie Farenheit 911,
mercy, I guess Mohammid Ali had no right to take a political stand.
When Kris Kristofferson puts questioning woords into his songs, all good and well, but heavon forbid if he made a speech dissing the dumbass prez.


By the way, Larry also reminisced about his visit to Graceland. He said of Elvis, "he just sang."

Burrrrppp!

whatever respect i had for imus has been all but completely washed away by his facination with larry the cable guy, he of "i went a-fishin in flarida and caught a cuban!" fame. fucking jackass. he's not funny, he's not clever, he's not anything.

Yeah, Larry..... WTF?

He's getting a lot of mileage out of that "Blue Collar Comedy Tour"-- lots of airplay recently on Comedy Central, and even a movie deal for Chrissake. OK, I confess.... I've tuned in to watch "Blue Collar", but only for the Ron White and Jeff Foxworthy segments.

Typical L.T.C.G. joke: "Have you ever taken a dump so big your pants fit better?"....

Uhh, no, not really....

It should really be called "The Red Neck Comedy Tour"!!!! I don't care for it at all!!!! I prefer Robin Williams instead!!!!
_________________
Liability insurance Forum

Oops.... that was a Ron White joke.....


Yeah, nevermind....

Hick humor-- it's pretty big these days.... I have no idea why....

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=5457966
This is the National Public Radio site on the recent Fresh Air show interview with the Dixie Chicks, plus you can listen to it online as well.

I heard it first on WMNF
Well, somebody on NPR just took ot down, the audio may be available go to the website and search for dixie chicks, meanwhile,

http://www.dixiechicks.com/