The "country" group known as the Dixie Chicks announced on Monday they would be leaving the world of country music for good. "We don't feel part of the country scene any longer; it can't be our home anymore," violinist Martie Maguire told the German magazine Spiegel, fulfilling a longstanding Chicks tradition of going to Europe to say something idiotic.
Now, in my opinion, the notion that Dixie Chicks were ever "country" is one that would make the likes of Patsy Cline and Hank Williams roll over in their graves. But now the Chicks have signed off on that musical tradition for good.
Let's rewind: In March, DC's lead singer Natalie Maines gracefully informed a London audience: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." This prompted a firestorm of controversy, including a drop in the group's album sales, numerous country stations' refusal to play the band's songs, and even CD-smashing sessions - which is, I admit, an overreaction; the wastebasket would have been fine.
The verdict was in: Most country music fans didn't share their shame about the fact that the president was from Texas.
Shocked at and hurt with the reaction from their fans and peers, the trio responded in the only logical way: posing nude for the cover of Entertainment Weekly magazine. To make matters with the country community worse, Maines already had attacked genuine country artist Toby Keith last year, referring to his hit song "The Angry American" as "ignorant." She went on to say of Keith that "anybody can write 'We'll put a boot in your ass.'"
Fast forward to the present: Chick Martie Maguire also lamented her group's failure to win anything but boos at the Academy of Country Music awards in May. Presenter Vince Gill had to quiet the negative audience after he read the group's names from the list of nominees for Entertainer of the Year. Also, when the Chicks played a song via satellite, Maines demonstrated her maturity by sporting a shirt emblazoned with the letters "F.U.T.K." The last two letters stand for Toby Keith; you're on your own to figure out the rest.
Maguire compared the Dixie Chicks' dismal showing at the ACMs to their three wins at the Grammys, noting that the members of the band "now consider [themselves] part of the big rock 'n' roll family." Well, ladies, don't let the door hit ya' on the way out.
Country music, and America in general, could do with a little less in the way of know-nothing liberal celebrities who say stupid things and wrap up themselves in the banner of free speech (quite literally, in the case of that tasteless EW cover) when they can't handle the public backlash.
All teasing aside, the Dixie Chicks' self-imposed exile into the much classier pop/rock realm of Britney Spears, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park actually might be the one decent thing they've done all year. It'll raise the average IQ in the world of country/western music, and unlike Alec Baldwin, they really are moving to the proverbial France.
Eric Spratling is a journalism senior. Reach him at eric.spratling@asu.edu.
