Ticket Sales for Dixie Chicks’ U.S. Tour Already Declared “HUGE!”
On November 16th when the Dixie Chicks announced their first United States tour dates in nearly a decade, and after the 2003 fiasco that ensued after Natalie Maines’ comments about George Bush, the big question was if there would be enough interest to justify the expenditures and promotion of a full blown Dixie Chicks tour. Or, would the political acrimony still be so thick that it would foil tour plans once again.
Well according to the Chicks’ long-time manager Simon Renshaw, the United States tour is already a success, with multiple dates sold out already and strong ticket sales across the board; so much so they’re already planning to extend the tour, and there’s still six months to go before the official start.
“The ticket sales have been ridiculous,” Renshaw tells Billboard. “After the first day of ticket sales, that night I got an email from [Live Nation CEO] Michael Rapino, all it says was, in capital letters ‘HUGE!’ Everyone is thrilled. That doesn’t mean that every single venue is sold out, but we’re six months away.”
According to Renshaw, 10 years on hiatus from touring was enough to build up tremendous demand and anticipation in concert goers for the Dixie Chicks. And deciding to book amphitheaters (or as Renshaw calls them, “sheds”) was also key to strong ticket sales by keeping tickets affordable.
“I felt very confident in the tour, and that our core fans would be there early on and from the beginning,” Renshaw says. “And the thing about doing the sheds is, all of a sudden you’ve got several hundred thousand tickets priced at $35 and under, which makes it a very affordable evening out for people that maybe haven’t seen the Dixie Chicks . . . This is not just about going back and playing for the old fans, it’s about reaching new fans . . .”
As for the concern that in conservative hotbeds the Dixie Chicks would fail, so far that has not been the case at all. All three shows booked in Texas sold out immediately. “We put a show up in Minneapolis and demand was so high we added a second show, and that sold out in a couple of hours,” says Simon Renshaw. “In Dallas, they sold like 20,000 tickets, and the girls were like, ‘Really, Dallas?’ In Houston, it’s like 16,000 tickets . . .
It’s all due to the pent up demand for the Dixie Chicks that had reached a fevered pitch over the last few years. “People on social media were like, ‘Enough already, we see you’re touring Canada, we see you’re touring Europe, what the fuck?'” says Renshaw.
The Dixie Chicks head to Europe in April before beginning their United States tour in earnest on June 1st in Cincinnati.
December 19, 2015 @ 9:13 am
Ticket sales for Justin Bieber, Luke Bryan and FGL are huge too.
Keep in mind this is the same woman who insulted Country Music’s listeners by calling them narrow-minded.
These are the same people who still hold a grudge against Blake Shelton for calling them Old Farts, but forgive Maines for calling them “The bad guys” in her Bush tangent, and then called them narrow-minded or ignorant.
The double-standard is strong with these ones.
December 19, 2015 @ 9:28 am
Not to take sides here; if someone doesn’t want to like the Dixie Chicks, then that’s their prerogative. But let’s make sure we get the quotes straight.
Maines never called anyone “The bad guys” in her Bush quote. Even though you put it in quotation marks. Her quote was,
“We don’t want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States (George W. Bush) is from Texas.”
As for her comments about country music, she never called fans narrow-minded. She said, “I just didn”™t like how blatant country music was. Nothing seemed poetic or subtle.”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/no-distinction-in-natalie-maines-anti-country-comments
December 19, 2015 @ 9:34 am
I can’t read minds, but I can read context, and I have my own ideas as to what she meant by “blatant”, in the context of everything else she said, especially in the dying day at that time of country music as an ostensibly family-friendly, so-called conservative genre. Too blatantly patriotic, too “conservative”.
December 19, 2015 @ 9:54 am
Trigger, lol, I gotta tell you, I accidentally “liked” your comment, but if I had the power to take it back, I wouldn’t, because I do believe in facts, and you provided some. I stand by all my comments re the DC, however (BTW, to be really politically correct, hadn’t they ought to change their name, ie the “Dixie”, or do they get a pass because they’re a voice for the left? Some town in Florida had their city council vote to change the name of some highway from “Dixie” highway to “Obama” highway, are they on board with that, I wonder?)
December 19, 2015 @ 10:55 am
If I’m not mistaken, she said in that rant “we’re on the good side with y’all.” doesn’t that imply that the other side are the bad guys?
Then she said that the backlash cast a light on “ugly people she was happily naive too.” that’s way more that criticizing the overtness of Country Radio.
Here’s a quote from a Rolling Stone article, for all you out there talking about how great “Fly” was.
“and she was quite certain that she never wanted to make anything resembling a country album again. “I can’t listen to our second album,” she says, referring to the Chicks’ 1999 breakthrough, Fly. “Because I was really, like, embracing country and really waving that country flag. My accent is so out of control on that album. I’m like, ‘Who is that?'”
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/natalie-maines-a-dixie-chick-declares-war-on-nashville-20130530#ixzz3un4uJ0Wp
This woman hates Country Music and all it embodies and has no place in this Genre and is equally as much a destructive force as Taylor Swift and Kelsea Ballerini. She doesn’t belong here, she doesn’t deserve our forgiveness, and she is doing a lot of damage to this genre.
December 21, 2015 @ 10:04 am
Maybe so, but the music stands alone and speaks for itself in my opinion. And they put out some damn good music.
December 21, 2015 @ 10:10 am
If you were an artist, would *you* want to associate yourself with what mainstream country music has become the past 10-15 years or so? “Fly” has good tracks, but there’s definitely some forced corn-pone stuff that wasn’t on their later albums. You really think a Tim McGraw stands behind a song like “refried dreams” or “truck yea”? Does Garth love “Two Pina Coladas”?
December 20, 2015 @ 4:58 pm
That’s enough for me to dismiss them
December 19, 2015 @ 9:29 am
It’s no different than all the stuff people say about radio listeners today. Her comments and Blakes aren’t even similar.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:02 pm
But they also bashed Texas, Reba, and Toby. That wasn’t quite as all encompassing as Blake’s, but still a stupidly large impact zone.
Back to the present, they made music that was true to their spirit and I think that’s what people are responding to with these concert sales. There’s a lot of shallow pre packaged music today, and middle aged “farts and jackasses” are recognizing real talent when they see it. Look at how popular Dolly still is, even in Britain, and the response of the CMA audience to JT and Stapleton. People look at those performances and say “That’s what music can be!”
At least I like to think that there are enough discerning people out there to bring back good music.
December 19, 2015 @ 5:12 pm
Even if she had flat-out said that country music fans were narrow minded, she wouldn’t have been wrong. At least not when it comes to the mainstream listeners.
December 21, 2015 @ 8:16 am
Meh, if Shelton’s recent output was half as good as the worst of The Dixie Chicks I’m sure people would be more willing to forgive him too.
December 19, 2015 @ 9:20 am
Nope, just nope, even if I still went to concerts. I try not to mix my music and my politics, but they started this, not me, and I’m not even a Bush fan (they don’t age well).
December 19, 2015 @ 10:25 am
I’m pretty much in the same boat. I like music from people with a very wide range of opinions, but the whole martyrdom thing does nothing positive for me. That said, I am curious to know if this tour will bring forth new music, or whether it’s more of a ” victory lap” deal ? If there is new music, I wonder if songwriter Dan Wilson will be involved ? He had a hand in several of their songs, and since has writing credits for Adele, Taylor Swift, Chris Stapleton,etc.
December 19, 2015 @ 10:32 am
Good question, on the “victory lap” thing.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:19 pm
I’m not really sure that the Dixie Chicks are pulling the “martyrdom” card here. And if they were, how are we also couching it as a “victory lap”? That seems contradictory. They got blackballed by the industry and their touring career ended in ruins. That’s why they stopped touring. Not sure how that would coincide with a “victory lap,” but no, there’s no new music. They will be playing their old music. For now.
I think some are still trying to couch the Dixie Chicks in the context of 12 years ago, or eight years ago, or five years ago. They’re three girls who play country music, and the people who will go to see them want to hear that music. That’s what’s going on. Bush hasn’t been President for nearly eight years. The Iraq War’s over. I think what the ticket sales show is that eveyone’s moved on except for a vocal minority. If you don’t like them, I think there’s a host of reasons to justify that, some that I would agree with. But this isn’t the days of MySpace. The world kept turning and now it’s 2015.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:30 pm
You could well be correct, they weren’t important enough to my life ever, to keep track of their doings. I didn’t admire their music before the crud storm, so I didn’t lose anything. I hated that stupid “Earl” song.
December 19, 2015 @ 1:24 pm
“I think some are still trying to couch the Dixie Chicks in the context of 12 years ago, or eight years ago, or five years ago.”
I’ll admit that. It’s pretty much all I know to go on, though. I haven’t really kept up with what they’ve been doing musically for the past several years. Pretty much the lasting impression I have is from many years ago, with everyone (supporters and detractors alike) talking about political stuff, and everything else other than their actual music.
I will concur with those who say they have a track record that includes some good country music. If this tour brings that back into focus, then great. If it’s just some political whatever, then that’s not really my thing (and I’d say the same if the politics were on the other side).
December 22, 2015 @ 11:53 am
“They”™re three girls who play country music……”
More like two girls who play country music and a Stevie Nicks wannabe.
December 20, 2015 @ 5:08 pm
Concur
December 19, 2015 @ 9:22 am
I would go see them for sure
December 19, 2015 @ 10:00 am
Those of you who turn your backs on them because of one case of FREE SPEECH better not be listening to CDB, Hank, Jr., Ted Nugent, or any other outspoken conservative artist. I mean, you can, and that makes you a HYPOCRITE!
Also hope you don’t listen to Merle Haggard, Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rogers…are you getting the picture here?
December 19, 2015 @ 10:49 am
I can decide who crosses the line in their advocacy of positions or opinions with which I disagree and who doesn’t, thank you, and you have no idea what my criteria are.
But I’ll let you know one of them-when an audience has paid to come hear your music, and more or less captive unless they want to be ripped off of their money, and you use the platform to perform your music for which your audience paid, to advocate for your politics, and don’t even do it musically and with that “nuance” the Chick spoke of with such longing-that’s just one of my criteria for crossing the line.
When they practice their right of free speech in such a way, I practice my right not to hear it by avoiding them, and certainly not enriching them. I don’t try to shut them up, I just know there’s a chance I won’t be getting what I paid for, and only what I paid for, and I’m not giving them my money for it.
If I see Nugent, or buy his music, he also is practicing his right of free speech, and everyone knows his positions, and they too can avoid them by not going to his concerts or buying his music. As I agree with him more often than not, and I already know it, I might be inclined to support him. That’s my freedom, and his freedom, and the Chicks’ freedom.
December 21, 2015 @ 5:30 pm
Ok just saying you agree with Ted Nugent more often then not automatically makes all of your posts irrelevant due to some sort of mental issue.
December 22, 2015 @ 5:58 pm
Hah! With you on that. Love ted’s music, man can play guitar like nobody’s business, but his politics are a bit “extreme”.
December 19, 2015 @ 10:33 am
Don’t tell me who I can listen to. Who do you think you are?
December 19, 2015 @ 10:38 am
I’d go IF they were touring on a new music. I’ve already seen them 5x (3x headliners). There’s just too much competition for my entertainment dollars. Already in 2016, I’m going to Ryan Bingham (January – if I can walk), American Aquarium (February), and Jason Isbell (March). One Dixie Chicks concert = at least two of the previous mentioned shows $ wise. Even if you score two $35 tickets for DC, you’d get slapped with $10 a piece service fee and parking and 4 beers at $8 will cost you $142 for the night. I probably will spend $140 tops at Bingham and American Aquaruim.
December 19, 2015 @ 10:42 am
I just enjoy the Dixie Chicks because of their music. I also listen to Ted Nugent and Kid Rock sometimes. I’ve seen Kid Rock in concert. I really don’t care what the artist’s opinions are and I don’t even care if they share them publicly. I just want to hear good music.
A few years back, Hank Williams, Jr. compared Obama to Hitler and then said on “The View” that if he was smart enough he might have compared him to Mussolini instead.
He was dropped from NFL’s theme song but I don’t recall much backlash from the country audience. In fact, he recently signed a deal with Nash Icon and opened the CMA awards with Eric Church.
Why should The Dixie Chicks have to pay such a high price for their political comments when Hank, Jr. didn’t?
December 19, 2015 @ 10:56 am
Because that’s what their audience, or their paying sponsers, chose, and that’s their right. They can’t make people come, none of them, and I hope we never reach that point!
December 19, 2015 @ 11:01 am
Hank Jr. says these things to his specific audience, which by and large consists of super-conservatives who live rural lives, don’t trust politicians and are largely financially strapped.
Maines is the opposite, and her opinions are very opposite to the people who would normally buy her music.
It isn’t what she said, it’s that she insulted the people who disagreed with her. She’s entitled to an opinion, she’s not entitled to disrespect the people who disagree, especially when she does something that anyone with a brain would know was a bad idea, from a publicity standpoint.
She went in, an entertainer whose primary fanbase supported the war at that point in time, and then disrespected her ENTIRE fanbase by calling them the bad guys and saying she was ashamed of them.
It’s not about what she believes, its how she insults people she should have known would disagree with her, and just acts like everybody who disagrees is her intellectual inferior.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:20 pm
I’m just gonna play devil’s advocate a bit. From what I gather from both Melanie and Fuzzy, are you saying the problem isn’t what Maines said, but the people she said it to?
It’s O.K. for Hank to compare Obama to Hitler because his audience likely doesn’t like Obama, but it’s not O.K. for Maines to say she’s ashamed that Bush is from Texas and that she doesn’t support going into war because her audience likely doesn’t share that mentality?
Can there be conservatives in genres like jazz, rock or folk? Or liberals in country or Christian contemporary music? Should they be allowed to share their opinions if their audience might disagree?
Is it possible that the audience she was speaking to in England did share that mentality? And because the Chicks had crossover hits, is it possible to say that their pop fans might agree with their opinions?
Would you say that an artist has a right to say what they want, or that an audience has a right not to hear what they don’t agree with? And if the latter is true, shouldn’t all political messages be erased from music, so as not to offend those with different viewpoints?
Do you think Tim McGraw did a disservice to his fans when he released “Red Rag Top” around the same time the Chicks controversy happened? It is likely that a number of his fans are pro-life and may have been offended by the song
December 19, 2015 @ 12:33 pm
I think that she should have known that her comments were going to be viewed negatively.
It’s like she’s completely stupefied by the way the industry treated her, as if she somehow never expected that this would happen, and then the way she acts as if it only happened because of stupid people makes it look like she thinks that all her detractors are her inferiors.
If she were as smart as she thinks she is, she would understand that the industry backlash was to be expected, and she probably wouldn’t have spouted her dumb opinions.
December 19, 2015 @ 1:39 pm
“It”™s like she”™s completely stupefied by the way the industry treated her, as if she somehow never expected that this would happen.”
The complete and utter blackballing of a major country music franchise and former Entertainer of the Year winner for one offhanded sentence? How could anyone have predicted that? The Dixie Chicks became an effigy for a bunch of pissed off Americans who should have been pointing their vitriol to other people and places. If it hadn’t been the Dixie Chicks, it would have been someone else.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:44 pm
Frankly, I really don’t have enough information about how open and honest they were before this concert about their political stance (though I got clues from the few songs I heard) to say, in this circumstance. And frankly, the world isn’t run the way I would run it, and gets further from that way all the time. I’d probably make a mess of it too, though. If I’d been in that audience, as a conservative, I’d have been pizzed, though that might have been my bad for being not being more informed, if the information was there. As someone sensitive to these things, I remember already having sniffed out that they weren’t for me, either musically or politically, so I just wouldn’t have been there. But people have different levels of tolerance for these things, and even in one person, different levels of tolerance can exist for different artists, based on a lot of things that they may never even think about or consider. Maybe based on how the artists “comes across” in their advocacy, if they advocate publicly, maybe something as tiny as that, really a personality issue.
December 20, 2015 @ 6:26 pm
He didn’t compare Obama to Hitler, he said “That would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu.” about the then Speaker, John Boehner, playing golf with the President. But small-minded people can infer big things. I suppose you can now tell me how that’s not the case, because the Speaker of the House and President both want what’s best for America and Americans. And I can respond thusly: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL, they only want what’s best for themselves.
December 22, 2015 @ 6:05 pm
It seems like they were vilified more than others, and I can only think it was because they had the nerve to be women speaking out. Mellencamp and Springsteen can spout their leftist opinions and they don’t get blackballed. Kid rock and Hank Jr. can get all right wing on us and no one boycotts them. Personally, I don’t disagree or agree with the Dixie chicks, but I do know the album they made in response to getting blackballed was a damn fine album and I paid my dollars happily for it regardless of their politics. I don’t particularly agree with Nugent or Hank, but if they release an album as good as those they released in their peak, I’d buy those too.
December 19, 2015 @ 11:04 am
I wouldn’t piss on the Dixie Chicks if they were on fire, but I wouldn’t stand in the way of someone else paying money to see them either. Everyone gets to make their own choices.
December 19, 2015 @ 11:10 am
Except that this woman wastes no time in complaining about our Genre.
Don’t we have a big enough problem with Luke Bryan embarrassing our Genre onstage, and Aldean doing it every time he opens his mouth?
The reason we have a problem is that Maines goes so far out of her way to make Country as a genre look bad. The traditional-minded fans who are paying to see her are unknowingly contributing to their biggest problem, which is Country Music trying not to be Country, because that’s what she wants, she wants to throw out our traditional sound, our traditional families, everything that has made Country Music a suitable family Genre is thrown under the bus when this woman is around, because she can’t keep her politics to herself. And then the record execs try to urbanize Country Music, and then the same traditionalists who went to see this girl complain, when if they hadn’t given her their money maybe this wouldn’t be happening.
We need to only support artists who embrace what Country Music is supposed to be about, because if we keep including all these people who are trying to change us we will lose our genre forever.
December 19, 2015 @ 11:23 am
I don’t know of much else I can do, Fuzzy, other than exercising my own freedom to not support them, and not being afraid to say so or why. I can’t stop other people doing what they will. Believe me, as must be obvious, lol, I’m not loathe to state my opinions, though I try to be nice if no one else bites first. I wish country was still the family-friendly, at least publicly conservative genre it used to seem (no one lives up to standards perfectly if they’re human, and anyone who claims to is a liar, and anyone who demands it is playing gotcha), but IMO that ship sailed at least a couple of decades ago.
Bear in mind that I am cognizant that I am speaking of a private entity, not a governmental one.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:29 pm
The Dixie Chicks are a legacy act at this point. They’re not on the radio, they’re not on awards shows, they’re not even putting out new music at this point. How do we even know they will be touring as a “country” act? As I said at the time, the things Natalie Maines said about country music needed context, and it’s unfortunate she said them. But I don’t think she “hurt” anything by saying them. The Dixie Chicks coming back and playing a concert tour is not going to change the shape of the genre whatsoever. If Garth Brooks didn’t, they certainly won’t. They’ll make a boatload of money, the people who want to see them will, and absolutely nothing in the mainstream, the independent realm, Americana, or anywhere else will see any bit of change whatsoever. I don’t want to call them irrelevant, but they certainly won’t be influential. Maybe their previous music was, but right now it’s all about Sam Hunt, Chris Stapleton, Cam, Jason Isbell, and Sturgill Simpson. The Dixie Chicks are nostalgia. Again, it’s not 2003 people.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:39 pm
But the people going to these tours are the very people hurt by her attacks on Country Music’s identity. A crazy uppity person with no self-restraint decides that she doesn’t like Country Music, so instead of going to another genre she tries to change the way it looks, sounds, and acts.
How is she any different than Scott Borchetta?
We have enough people who think that Country Music needs to urbanize or modernize, and unfortunately she’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing because the people who like the Dixie Chicks are by and large traditional minded Country fans, the same people whose genre she has set out to reform for the worse.
She’s making money off people, and at the same time she’s destroying their genre, and they can’t see it.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:56 pm
I think we’ve already been outvoted on that score, Fuzzy, and may as well enjoy the fact that beginning with 20th C technology, more or less, we can enjoy recorded versions of our old favorites.
You know, what I don’t understand is why I never really had any angst about the changes, and pretty much the death, of rock. It seems to have died just when it should have, IMO, because it wasn’t coming close to surpassing its heyday.
It may be time to feel that way about country, and let it go. We had our day, at least we can enjoy recordings. Just think, when Mozart died, all people had were their memories, which died with them, of his actual playing. We don’t know what the man himself sounded like.
December 19, 2015 @ 1:43 pm
Fuzzy,
With all due respect, there’s a tremendous amount of Chicken Little in your comments.
“But the people going to these tours are the very people hurt by her attacks on Country Music”™s identity.”
If you query country music fans, 99% of them will have no idea what Natalie Maines said about country music. It was a popcorn fart. Nobody was paying attention. I’m not trying to defend the comments. But hey, Maines didn’t want to be associated with Toby Keith. I can’t blame her. The idea that this tour is a Trojan Horse to lure in traditional country fans, only to then brainwash them into a liberal agenda and into thinking rock is country is ludicrous and unhinged. People are going to go to the concert, they’ll play the hits, and then everyone will go home. It’s harmless.
December 19, 2015 @ 12:50 pm
That’s all true enough Trigger, unless the media decides to try to make something out of it all. I don’t know how influential their (the media’s, supposing they attempted) attempts might be to the country music industry, I’m no insider, not by a long mile. They might be seen as “elders” now, OTOH, as you say, times have changed, and they no longer have to tiptoe around, in the country music genre (which is what your everyday person who doesn’t pay much attention is going to see them as) , to be political. At least this time no one has an excuse for not knowing and getting “played”, if they had one before.
December 19, 2015 @ 1:42 pm
“You know, what I don”™t understand is why I never really had any angst about the changes, and pretty much the death, of rock.”
Rock is only dead to those who eat up what the American music industry spoon-feeds them. Just like the idea that there is “no good new country” it’s propagated by corporate industry whose only interest is make the quickest buck possible by manipulating those willing to be spoon fed into jumping from trend to trend as if nothing “traditional” is good.
It always pains me when I see someone who clearly tells the mainstream to shove the majority of their crap, but then buys into one aspect that conveniently fits their worldview. I’m not saying the mainstream is ALWAYS wrong, I mean a blind man throws a thousand darts some are bound to hit the mark. When you find that they are so often you’d think it’d be perfectly fair to assume they’re wrong, and look for the real evidence ones self.
December 19, 2015 @ 2:12 pm
Well, I’m not a creative or gifted person Bear, and I know what I like, I just can’t create it, and most of what I like is what I grew up with, as will be natural at my age, and not being a creative person, so necessarily relying upon the creativity of those who are, and they’re all either getting long in the tooth or gone away. Heck, they’re all more “with it” than me, being creative people, I mean, Jon Anderson has been doing other than progressive rock for decades. I’m the one who’s kinda stuck knowing what I like, and liking what I know. They, being the creative and gifted ones, are forced to keep moving by their gifts, I, their music being the soundtrack to my life, will be the one looking back. We see the music differently, as creator and recipient.
December 19, 2015 @ 2:22 pm
All I’m saying is that “Rock isn’t dead,” and you obviously know, being a patron of this site, that country isn’t dead either no matter how stupid the current mainstream looks. I said nothing about you being a creator of music, in fact, everything I said was just saying that you should gather the evidence about the great music that is still coming out regularly. Your presence on this site, generally, shows that you have that desire, so I just suggested you take it a step further on that aspect and dig and find the killer “new” (to you) music on your own as well (or find more badass sites that fit your tastes).
December 19, 2015 @ 2:03 pm
“there”™s a tremendous amount of Chicken Little in your comments.”
I know I may come across as somebody out there screaming “Natalie Maines is going to burn our crops and then shit on Waylon’s grave” but I’m not insane.
I just think that she’s got it out for what Country Music stands for and is supposed to be, her comments have indicated a complete disdain for all the family friendly and patriotic aspects that make Country Music different from the other genres. It’s like she wants Country Music to be something other than what the people who listen to it do.
It’s all straight from the horse’s mouth.
I don’t honestly buy into a some crazy theory that Maines is trying to Trojan Horse the people she hates, but she, just like Shelton, sure seem to dwell on the idea of severing us from our musical heritage.
December 19, 2015 @ 2:20 pm
It all depends on your place in the timeline. My husband, having grown up at the tail end of the crooners and the beginnings of rock, had no use for Sixties psychedelia stuff, all that, and thought real rock and roll, as his day called it, died when all that came in. (though he liked Seger, for the authenticity and lack of BS he recognised in him). Actually, I doubt DH ever gave it much thought, not being into analysis of things not relevant to his direct survival and well-being, lol. I just know that when I played it in the first years of our marriage, during the honeymoon period he tolerated it, as time went on he said “turn that sh*t down”, lol.
December 19, 2015 @ 2:35 pm
Mel (if I may be so informal) I’m not that old, I was just a kid when the “talk about me feel like a woman” nonsense was on the radio. Then somebody turned me on to Hee-Haw, and from there I soaked up every decade in Country Music history, and know more about it than just about anybody.
I went through a period of my life when I had to tell everybody who would listen about Waylon’s “Six White Horses” and Dave Kirby’s “So Long Train Whistle.”
I dressed up like Porter Wagoner, I e-mailed Roy Clark, I bought all the Country’s Family Reunion tapes, I have a guitar pick given to me by David Frizzell in my sock drawer, I have a George Jones collectable ceramic plate on my wall, I have Webb Pierce’s autograph on two different records.
I have no place in the timeline, my perspective is that two many people are allowed entrance into this genre who don’t give it the respect it deserves. This genre has had music broadcast back from space, this genre has seen its records go on the Apollo Missions, Country Music was the first genre to send American entertainers to Japan after WWII.
During WWII Roy Acuff was so popular that the Japanese people would scream “To Hell With Babe Ruth, To Hell with Roy Acuff!”
Are we going to throw that away?? Not even Elvis stands up in comparison!
It’s not about the timeline, it’s about the basic knowledge of our genre’s history and relevance. and it’s about supporting only the entertainers who align themselves with that history and relevance.
December 19, 2015 @ 3:28 pm
. . . except when she actually starts playing music with the Dixie Chicks and it’s way more traditional that what we hear today. You think she’s going to get out on stage during this tour, cue up a mic, and tell everyone how much country sucks and to all shave their heads like her and start listening to agro rock? She knows who puts food on her table.
If you’re looking for a snake in the grass go bark at Shane McAnally.
I hate how you’re making me defend Natalie Maines because I agree her comments on country were not helpful. I just don’t see the need to take it to an extreme.
December 19, 2015 @ 3:33 pm
Maddie and Tae are traditional, that doesn’t absolve the fact that Scott Borchetta is using them to make money, which he uses to sign performers from outside the Country genre.
Natalie Maines may be traditional, but as you say, it’s because she’s trying to make money. she clearly has no allegiance to our genre and would happily change it to be more urban and less insulated.
She’s just as much part of the problem with Country’s identity.
And the Chicks weren’t even very good, they were of middling talents making bland music like the Judds with no real creativity or energy, just like Tony Booth or Johnny Bush: a middling talent making unremarkable music that sounds similar to what other artists were making. Just because they were better than Shania doesn’t make them good, just like being better than Aldean doesn’t make Taylor Swift good.
And there is no “extreme.” BUT the same people who would listen to their music consist by and large of the same people she has very publicly criticized.
And I’m not looking for a snake in the grass I’m just bringing up some facts that everybody seems to let slide. I certainly didn’t want this massive mess to engorge itself in the comments section.
December 19, 2015 @ 9:28 pm
Maddie and Tae are a lot of things, “traditional” isn’t one of those things
December 21, 2015 @ 5:34 pm
Ok just saying you agree with Ted Nugent more often then not automatically makes all of your posts irrelevant due to some sort of mental issue.
December 19, 2015 @ 3:13 pm
In response to the huge discussion above me:
Maines’ comments about how bad country music is came out like four years ago. Everybody on this site has said those same things about mainstream country music. I agree with her comments about mainstream country in the ’10s. If you read this website you probably do as well.
I don’t think she hates country music. She made great country music for over 15 years and made stuff that was more traditional leaning than a number of her peers at the time. If she hated country music as people are implying, why would she have covered a Radney Foster song?
Plus, Vince Gill, Bruce Springsteen and Merle Haggard all supported The Dixie Chicks during the controversy. Will you stop supporting those artists because they publicly voiced their opinions?
Merle Haggard also opposed the invasion of Iraq. Should his conservative fans have turned on him as well?
December 19, 2015 @ 3:28 pm
click on the article I linked to up top. That was only 2 years ago. She used to make Country Music, then told everyone she hated it, and is now sucking up money from people making music she has professed not only to disliking, but also to disliking the people who enjoy this music.
If she doesn’t like the genre she needs to leave, and quit talking about Country Music like the spoiled obnoxious preteen she seems for all intents and purposes to be.
Merle Haggard never said he was ashamed of his fans and supporters, he also never said that Country Music was full of ugly people. This isn’t about politics, this is about being disrespectful.
She’s a great example of the people who want Country Music to urbanize/modernize, just like who else?
Thomas Rhett, Jason Aldean, and Scott Borchetta.
She’s just a very opinionated person without any exceptional talents who’s fifteen minutes ran out who is very clearly doing something she professed to hate because she knows that a lot of people will still shovel out their money because they haven’t figured out yet that there are far better concert options.
She’s riding on nostalgia at this point and would be totally irrelevant if her attitude towards changing Country Music weren’t shared by a generation of untalented performers who try to destroy Country Music.
December 20, 2015 @ 12:18 pm
That’s true I mis-estimated how long it had been. I think The Chicks’ music was dramatically better than Aldean or Rhett. In fact, it probably is some of the best mainstream country of the past 20 years. Rhett is about the worst of the past 20 years so I don’t know if the comparison is accurate.
Ryan Adams recently said some pretty terrible things about country music. So did Jim James from My Morning Jacket. Do they deserve to lose their career over it as well?
December 20, 2015 @ 12:25 pm
They aren’t Country artists. Maines has publicly criticized the genre and the people who listen to it, and yet here she is playing it, in front of an audience consisting of the people she has expressed not to like.
December 19, 2015 @ 3:33 pm
l always kinda liked the two Dixie chicks that played instrumeants and sang back up…But natalie maines always made me sick she is disgusting to look at and her big mouth and her stupid views killed it for me. I would rather go watch karaoke than see her she totally repulses me
December 21, 2015 @ 10:02 am
..Why?
Like, seriously, why? She didn’t like George Bush, which, most of the country didn’t, and she said the quagmire we were getting ourself into in Iraq was dumb, which, low and behold, it was pretty fucking dumb.
Outside of that, she’s called modern mainstream country music out as awful, and singled out Toby Keith as an idiot, which is exactly the premise that this site is predicated on. What’s wrong with that?
“Disgusting to look at”? She’s a curvy little short chick. You know, like most chicks in the US. What am I missing here?
I’ve never been a huge Dixie Chicks fan, but I never got the outrage or anger over the group. Seems like the same faux-bullshit outrage that every other “christian”/conservative group tries to foment to keep the mouthbreathers happy. It’s a bad look.
December 19, 2015 @ 5:34 pm
Good to see the return of the Dixie Chicks is already successful. I kind of see it as true country music fans not knowing what you got till its gone and my oh my has mainstream country crashed and burned (pardoned the T Rhett pun) after they were “banished” . What would be interesting to see (which I’m sure is not going unnoticed by the big labels in Nashville) is the demographics of the ticket purchases that are making it so successful. Most likely young adults in their late 20s and 30s that grew up on their music and miss hearing it and of course those 40+ old farts that are apparently irrelevant according to Mr. Shelton. They will have a new record deal with a label before the end of 2016 as my prediction.
December 19, 2015 @ 9:33 pm
Ole Fuzzy is on a witch hunt man. This is the funniest thread I’ve read on this site. Thanks for the entertainment Fuzzy!
December 20, 2015 @ 6:42 am
You’re welcome.
December 19, 2015 @ 11:03 pm
Not a chance. I’m voting for Rubio, and she can lick my balls with her anti American shite.
December 20, 2015 @ 2:39 am
rubio is an open borders fanatic backed by the likes of global elitists like mark zuckerberg.
December 20, 2015 @ 9:26 am
Not a chance, more immigration from Mexico is what we need. Sorry if you don’t like the truth. Mexicans are also socially conservative they will vote Republican if the Republicans like them. Also, rubio is a strong fiscal conservative. By far the best (after Kasich). Rubio is beating Hillary in the polls, and leads with young voters too. (Which is rare for Republicans.) Rubio 2016!
December 20, 2015 @ 1:31 pm
You may as well vote for Billary.
December 20, 2015 @ 2:54 pm
Not a damn chance Hillary is far far the opposite… She is another Obama, left wing, feminists, black lives matter, anti police bla bla bla. She is a disaster who’s inaction led to three American deaths. She is the epitome of incompetence.
Rubio is a fiscal conservative, and he has much more sense, and hr will connect to the largest demographic and they are good anyways when they’re legal.
That’s the way forward whether you like it or not. Mexicans in general have conservative family values, and are hard working. When they become a strong Republican base under Rubio THEN maybe we could work towards social conservatism again because the socons will have a larger younger base.
December 20, 2015 @ 3:38 pm
If Hillary is another Obama, then count me in. The way the Republicans are spewing hatred and trying to send our country backwards, they’d better change their ways in a hurry. Chances are, the next Republican president hasn’t been born yet.
December 20, 2015 @ 5:08 pm
More hyperbole and emotional arguments from the Obama fanboys. Look at the Democrat run paradises of Detroit, Baltimore, Cincinnati, etc. And that’s what will happen if the next Republican president isn’t born yet. I’ll be getting my papers ready to go to Mexico.
December 21, 2015 @ 11:16 pm
I would think that if you’re wanting an actual fiscal conservative then Rand Paul would be your man. Since I’m a godless commie, I disagree with a good deal of his positions, but he seems to be the best Republican candidate by far, and the only one that I could call a fiscal conservative with a straight face.
December 21, 2015 @ 11:28 pm
Also, Hyun, densely populated urban areas tend to overwhelmingly vote Democrat, so nearly every major city in the US is run by left leaning people, so a few cities that are mired in corruption don’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things. Small towns and rural areas tend to vote Republican, yet in most cases I can’t blame the GOP for all of little towns that are drying up and dying all over our country.
December 20, 2015 @ 6:35 am
Post the ‘comments’, the backlash against Natalie was huge, and she and band were receiving literal death threats. Country radio completely abandoned them. I’m not saying the Dixie Chicks, or country radio, were 100% right or 100% wrong, but I kind of get why Natalie would be ticked off. How long she can be ticked off, I’m not sure what the statue of limitations is for something like this.
Second – I did see the Dixie Chicks in concert on the Long Way Around tour, and full disclosure I’m a fan of their discography. The reality is that they were actually a quite boring show, very subdued, no interaction and very tight to the original material. Not terrible but not memorable either. Again nothing wrong with that but they just aren’t, and I don’t know that they ever were, a high energy live band.
December 22, 2015 @ 12:26 pm
I remember watching them “live” on TV once, Natalie seemed to spend an awful lot of time with her back to the audience.
I’ve long thought that Emily and Martie should dump Natalie and team up with Michelle Branch.
December 20, 2015 @ 7:37 am
The most disturbing thing in this whole thing is the mention of Live Nation! Oh, how I loathe them. The “huge” probably come from Stub Hub, not real people.
I recently tried to secure Stapleton tickets at 2 different venues and they were gone in seconds. Minutes later there were pages and pages for sale on Stub Hub for 4x the price.
December 20, 2015 @ 8:18 am
I had a comment aside from the politics of the band’s relaunch. It had to do with an interesting piece of marketing that came with the concert. On the day after their concert announcement here in my hometown, they were offering value-priced seats through Groupon. I thought, at first, this was strange that they had to discount tickets to an event so far out in advance, but after some research, realized it was pretty genius. In Sacramento, Groupon’s email database is now 3x the reach of our newspaper Sacramento Bee. In a single email, they reached 350,000-400,000 potential concert goers about the concert that will be in our neck of the woods next summer- and the only cost was a couple thousand nose-bleed seats discounted from their already relatively inexpensive rate. I’m sure it’s been done in other markets, but from a marketing standpoint, it’s pretty damned smart. I wonder if we’ll see some additional music acts use it not as a means to fill unsold seats close to the event, but by a means to get the word out that the event exists in the first place. It’s like guaranteed PR in a region.
December 21, 2015 @ 7:07 am
This has actually been standard practice for Live Nation shows, including the Megaticket, for the past few years. Live Nation and Groupon launched a partnership for online ticketing deals in 2011. It’s been a very effective tool in goosing attendance numbers for Live Nation-promoted shows.
December 20, 2015 @ 10:00 am
Well the chicks are always sure to generate discussion. I’m a fan, myself. I would love to get some new music in addition to a tour. But I don’t foresee them ever having a major impact on the country music industry again, nor do I really think they have any intention of doing so.
December 20, 2015 @ 2:34 pm
Natalie Maine’s and freedom of speech is a slippery slope. She was and is free to say what she wants. But she has to live with the consequences of exercising that freedom. People are free to vote with their wallets, as the Chicks found out. It appears much has been forgiven. But in my opinion, Maine’s comments about country music and “cool” fans smack of snobbery and hipsterism (made up word?) She said she would prefer a smaller following of cool fans, and that’s what she got for the better part of a decade. It may increase her cred amongst the rockers and folkies, but it doesn’t pay nearly as well as being a country star. And her solo indie rock album was hyped to the moon and back, but ultimately was forgotten. She has found out that for her to be commercially viable, she has to be in the context of the Dixie Chicks. And like it or not, the Chicks are who they are because of Music Row and country fans, many of whom she would find to be distasteful according to her refined sensibilities. She has made it clear that her influences were largely rock and pop and that country makes her ears burn. I couldn’t care less how she feels about Bush or who she tells in what setting. I’m no right-wing apologist. But she rode the gravy train with biscuit wheels all the way to the bank and then distanced from it once people responded to her in a way that she didn’t like. It’s called business, which is what puts her in a position to be heard no matter what the message may be. If not for that devil country music, no one in the UK would have had the chance to hear her say her piece. She could have drawn some distinctions in her comments about country music, but she painted with a broad brush. And some will continue to be offended by her persona, which is their right. And finally, the music machine that facilitated her success is the same machine that gave and still gives us lots of really bad music. But it’s the machine that generates fame and cash on such grand levels. So understand where your fortunes come from and maybe show a little gratitude instead of cashing the checks while holding your nose.
December 20, 2015 @ 3:13 pm
I’d probably see them.
As for the whole political argument, they said that over a decade ago and they ended up being right (in my opinion, I’m not a Bush fan nor a fan of the Iraq War for various reasons). All in all, how much does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? They’re people with political beliefs just like everybody else, and they have the freedom to say it (whether it’s in their best interest is a different story). The disagreement shouldn’t affect what you think of their music unless it’s a political song, in my opinion. I didn’t agree at all when Hank Jr. compared Obama to Hitler, but it didn’t affect my opinion of his music. They’re two seperate entities, and no matter how ridiculous I thought the comparison was, I still listened to his music without a second thought.
As for the argument that they don’t respect country music’s roots, I think they were good at blending country and pop to the point where I didn’t really care that it was being blended. I’ve never been a massive fan, but it was pretty good for what it was trying to do.
Good for the Dixie Chicks for coming back on tour, and I’m glad to see them gaining back their traction. Hope they make some new music soon.
December 20, 2015 @ 3:23 pm
Delving into the heated discussion above, I had a few thoughts I wanted to add.
Firstly, I can sympathize with both ends of the debate. I’m one who generally enjoys some of their music and felt the way they were treated in wake of their remark about Bush was shameful……………….and can also understand why some of the group’s later remarks about country music fans were low-brow and why it is rather difficult to get past that: especially when, like it or not, they continue to purport themselves as ambassadors for mainstream country music when they make national headlines.
But here’s where Trigger’s remark in a previous posting about Maines’ interview as she was releasing her solo debut album “Mother” have solid points that are nonetheless marred by a judgmental tone and lack of nuance.
At least from the previous interviews I recall, the group members clearly had contempt with where country music was at. They stated that they didn’t want to be in the company of Toby Keith and Reba McEntire in fans’ five-disc changers. It’s obvious why Keith’s name is cited there, but McEntire’s is more perplexing because I’ve never really viewed her as embarrassing to the genre at all.
Either way, I happen to agree from the mid-00s on, there was much that was infuriating to listen to that was representing country music. But the question remains, was the group specifically calling out mainstream country music and it insulting the intelligence of listeners (which, if so, they were mostly on-point and right to do)……………..or country music altogether regardless?
It could be, from 2004 onward, the Dixie Chicks understandably concluded mainstream country music was hopelessly overtaken by artifice and machismo and a deteriorating lack of self-awareness and heart, to the point it mistakenly felt to them like it also rung true to country music lovers as a whole. That for nearly a decade, no one crossed their minds that was worth getting excited about that would steer country music back to Earth.
And as you would recall, “Mother” was released during the peak of the bro-country era in May 2013. Thus, there was every reason to believe where Maines’ seething resentment with where country music was at, was coming from. But on the other hand, when you glance over her featured collaborators on both “Mother” and the group’s most recent album “Taking The Long Way”……………….you see plenty of household names among Adult Alternative and even Americana audiences. Ben Harper, Patty Griffin, Gary Louris, Mark Olson, Keb’ Mo’, Pete Yorn, among others.
*
Thus, taking that into consideration, what the group may be observing now is a resurgence in authentic country music worth crowing about: regardless of how oblivious the are to the incredible abundance of great music outside the mainstream. It may very well be that, much like Tom Petty, they got so exasperated by what they were hearing that they reactively shut themselves off from a lot of music to the unfortunate extent that much of the great music we highlight here was outside their field of vision.
Now, perhaps they couldn’t help but notice the emergence of Chris Stapleton, perhaps that of Kacey Musgraves, Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell as well……………..and they’re genuinely impressed to the extent they think country music, as a whole, is making a surefire turn back to relative quality prior to 2003.
*
Obviously, as a listener to both what’s in and outside of the mainstream………………..if this is indeed the case………………..I’m saddened that they couldn’t be more open-minded all this time to all else that’s out there and essentially paralyzed themselves in result.
On the other hand, I have to take a long, hard look at myself, and conclude that I also didn’t know where to look for great (current) country music for a long while between 2003 and roughly 2011. I certainly would never make the brash, unfortunate assumptions about country listeners as a whole (even in the mainstream) like Maines did…………….but I nonetheless understand the source of her frustration.
*
What I DO hope to see in the coming weeks is the group members clarifying their relationship with country music as a whole, and focusing on the positive as to the good that’s starting to sprout up. Do what Don Henley has done and list names of musicians that have inspired them more recently.
December 20, 2015 @ 3:54 pm
not going to get into politics, but when I saw the Chicks do a few songs at a show honoring Lloyd Maines a couple of years ago in Austin, the reaction to them was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in 40 years of see shows. I mean the crowd overwhelmingly LOVED them and were deeply hungry for their music. so yeah the sales could be HUGE.
December 20, 2015 @ 4:24 pm
I genuinely think the malaise among listeners who grew up on country radio but have since seen their genre erode in the mainstream…………….will translate to a heightened, nostalgic longing for acts like Dixie Chicks that will supercede most misgivings many might have had with them at some point.
I think, even among many who don’t personally like Maines’ attitude, they’re re-evaluating their music now in the broader scheme of things after initially dismissing much of it as assembly-line pop…………….and suddenly are regarding it more fondly much like we have observed among Garth Brooks’ standing in the midst of longer-time country music fans.
Heck, I’ve always enjoyed plenty of their music (especially their “Home” album), but even I didn’t care about their earlier material that much growing up. Now, when I hear “Cowboy Take Me Away” and “Wide Open Spaces” as recurrents on the radio, I can’t help but get a warm, sentimental feeling inside in that, between the genuine flourishes of fiddle and banjo and wistful lyrics, I now look at them with renewed appreciation and actually enjoy hearing them now.
I truly think, if they have new music in the pipeline to accompany this forthcoming tour (they surely have to have some)………….it will sell reasonably well. Obviously nowhere remotely like their first three Maines-era albums sold, but a new studio album could go Gold off of their name recognition alone and possibly go Platinum with adequate promotion.
December 20, 2015 @ 5:06 pm
Maybe the Dixie Chicks’ tour IS huge. If so, more power to ’em.
I’ll just say that I’ll wait and see. I don’t take the statement from “Simon Renshaw” as gospel. It’s his JOB to say how fabulously the group is doing.
December 20, 2015 @ 7:10 pm
I can tell you that the three dates in Texas and other dates are sold out. I totally agree it’s a managers job to try to create a buzz and get people interested. But the Chicks’ selling out some of their dates six months out is a fact. How the entire tour does eventually we’ll have to see, but all indications from 3rd parties is the tour is selling well.
December 22, 2015 @ 11:06 am
“how the entire tour does eventually we”™ll have to see, but all indications from 3rd parties is the tour is selling well.”
This band could sell out every major city , every small town and every weigh-stop in Canada . They are adored up here ..they still get regular airplay on our local stations and have a huge fan following ‘.Kids’ who were barely born in the Chick’s heyday know them and know the radio stuff . I’m personally a big fan of their sound , their trad influences and mostly substance -driven lyrics .Not to mention those killer vocal harmonies. I’m happy they are receiving such good response to this tour in the US . ITS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC and the Chicks sound more country than just about ANY mainstream act touring today !
Now if Shania’s tour bus got a few flat tires THAT would REALLY help with Saving Country Music .
December 20, 2015 @ 7:07 pm
I think it’s funny the Dixie Chicks claimed the Bush’s were from Texas. They absolutely were not from Texas. They were Yankees with uhauls.
You ain’t born in Texas, your momma wasn’t born in Texas and your granmamma ain’t from Texas. You ain’t a Texan and we don’t want you.
December 21, 2015 @ 9:19 am
They are Ivy League Texans!
December 20, 2015 @ 8:53 pm
99 percent of the comments in this discussion make me really sad that so many of you are letting irrational misdirected hatred get between you and very good music. It has to be very dark inside your worlds and for that I am sorry and I hope Jesus brings you some peace this Christmas. I will be proudly attending the Dixie Chicks tour next year. I am scared of the death threats they received last time they toured and hope in this heated gun and politics climate that wisdom and peace and forgiveness will prevail but reading these comments here I have my doubts. Lord please give these people peace and show us all the way to live together in love.
December 21, 2015 @ 10:11 am
Yeah, I hope these comments aren’t representative of SCM’s readership as a whole, and that’s all I’m going to say about that”¦ I’m comforted by the fact that it seems to be the same five or ten people liking each other’s comments and generally whipping themselves into a froth-mouthed fury, and that Trigger’s levelheaded comments are getting more likes.
December 21, 2015 @ 6:32 am
I’m in favor of this. That’s all.
December 21, 2015 @ 9:19 am
I don’t enjoy mixing politics with my music. I go to a concert to hear the music. Not a huge Dixie Chicks fan to begin with, but I will admit… they were right about Bush. There is that much.
December 21, 2015 @ 9:38 am
Wow. Some commenters above explain exactly why Trump, Cruz & Carson have gained massive followings and hijacked the GOP. You good folks happily bash country radio, the public,and the entire country music industry for not recognizing your favorite artists. Then you same lot defend the very same programmers and listeners who held cd burning parties, lifetime radio bans and protests outside their shows, etc.
Hypocrite much?
Don’t like em, don’t go. Sold out here anyway (ATL). But please find new targets for your faux-patriotism. I’m sure you’ve been going nuts on journos and GOP candidates for insulting President Obama while he was in SE Asia…..oh wait……I forgot….he doesn’t count.
December 21, 2015 @ 10:35 am
It’s the curse of being educated and enjoying “redneck” entertainment pursuits. I have a masters, work for a Global Fortune 50 company, deal with non-americans all day, and love country music, stock car racing, and pro wrasslin’. Do you know what it’s like to read forums and blogs dedicated to these things and having a moderate political worldview? It’s like the hairs on my neck never go down.
It’s not even so much the “Oh my god, how can you think that?” mentality, it’s the “Why do you fucking care?” That I just don’t get. For people to get so outraged and worked up over something they have zero vested financial interest in, it just doesn’t compute. It’s this weird sense of faux-narcissism coupled with a lack of any other real issues in their life. Boggles the mind. There’s this desire to “stand out” or be outraged by people that have no real talent or creativity to stand out on their own, so they just get angry. They have no idea why they’re angry, but dammit, they’ll let you know they’re angry.
December 21, 2015 @ 11:28 am
Buckshot- you just told my life story. Preach Brother Buck!
December 25, 2015 @ 8:48 pm
So it’s not just me? Liberal atheist who loves country music and dirt racing here who struggles knowing I share a common interest with some who comment on here lol
December 21, 2015 @ 10:17 am
What is that thing hanging from her ear? Does she keep her wallet in her ear?
December 21, 2015 @ 10:21 am
Gotta be an old picture. I haven’t seen an ear-chain like that in 10 years.
December 21, 2015 @ 1:40 pm
I am from the UK so I know some of you will not care what I think.
Disliking the DC’s for speaking their mind against their government is hypocrisy of the highest order.
The only reason you are not a British colony is people like her had the guts to say something against the British government and stick true to their beliefs.
Understand that when the rest of the world looked in at how some of you treated the DC’s it is with equal amounts of bemusement and contempt.
Without people like the DC’s the USA you love so much would not exist.
December 22, 2015 @ 3:54 am
Very bemused Canadian checking in.
December 21, 2015 @ 6:48 pm
Whether I agreed or disagreed with her comments and political stance I’m not going to get into. It’s truly secondary to me as a music fan, and used as a determining factor if I didn’t like their music. I definitely did and know the genre changed after they left or were blackballed.
I definitely will go see them. Their comments came out at the very beginning of their tour. People wanted refunds of tickets already purchased, which were refused. Ended up getting front row for the show when they were in my town.
Getting deeper into it previously had sued their record label over a poor contract. That alone could’ve been a permanent ban on them. If they didn’t have the power and want of the label to change it. It changed artists contracts for the future. If you remember Natalie was on abc with Barbara Walters and she asked her if she was rich? I don’t even have a million dollars in the bank. That’s after the first two albums went diamond. For that alone they should be applauded.
Digging further into Natalie alone she was the maid of honor for the wedding of Howard stern, and his wife. Of course she has a bit of an outspoken mouth.
Another side note mentioned is Natalie wasn’t the first lead singer of the chicks. Not remembering her name or feel like looking up but there was another girl. She had hearing issues and couldn’t adjust to the rest of the band live. She stepped aside for the greater good, and wished them well. This was before they got big and first single.
Many times I agree with Charlie Daniels but that’s beside the point. On a daily basis he says things 10x worse than Natalie ever said. There has never been a mention of a bad word of anything negative by a poster on him. He mocks Obama all the time. Burn all of his CDs and start a rant etc. just stating this info. I don’t think the treatment like that of anyone is deserved.
December 22, 2015 @ 1:10 pm
“Another side note mentioned is Natalie wasn”™t the first lead singer of the chicks. Not remembering her name or feel like looking up but there was another girl. She had hearing issues and couldn”™t adjust to the rest of the band live. She stepped aside for the greater good, and wished them well.”
Not true at all. The Dixie Chicks were originally a four-piece bluegrass band. Original guitarist and co-lead singer Robin Lynn Macy chose to stick with Bluegrass when the group started moving toward a more contemporary country sound. Original bassist and co-lead singer Laura Lynch was essentially booted out to make way for Maines.
I have never head anyone suggest that either of these ladies had “hearing issues”.
December 23, 2015 @ 10:58 pm
I, for one, couldn’t be MORE excited. Bought VIP tickets for the Vegas show in Aug! Anyone who doubts the importance of the Dixie Chicks in modern country and for Feminism as a whole, can kiss my country ASS. 😉
December 26, 2015 @ 7:35 pm
Y’all are forgetting that “Landslide” totally crossed over and got and still gets tons of play on AA stations and “lite” stations. I have tons of friends who are DC fans who aren’t country fans AT ALL. “Cowboy, Take Me Away” could be heard on every dorm hallway when I was in college, and I was at one of those Northeastern liberal elite hotbed colleges. Sure, the Bush comments upset “country music fans,” but I’d argue that a lot of people buying tickets now are people who wouldn’t know their Merle from their Conway. Hell, the DC played Lilith Fair. I have a lot of friends going to see the tour (I’m a mid-30s woman in a northeastern major city), and they’re listening to old DC tracks in between Adele and Sia and Taylor.
December 29, 2015 @ 1:33 am
There’s a lot of talk about Natalie Maines in the comments, but not much about the other two! I am also surprised that no one has mentioned the Court Yard Hounds at all. I hope this tour brings them some much deserved publicity and recognition 🙂
I hope everyone’s feelings for NM doesn’t cloud their vision and make the allegations of narrow-mindedness true… despite political contoversy, there is still art being made by these women.
January 27, 2016 @ 11:05 am
The Court Yard Hounds really do deserve more recognition. I hope they put out more music soon! I’ve read so many comments even from Dixie Chicks fans saying Court Yard Hounds are just “background noise” or “elevator music” and saying other negative like stuff about them. Natalie, Emily, and Martie are all great musicians, singers, and songwriters whether they are together or working on their own projects. It’s so awesome they’re touring the states again!
August 14, 2016 @ 12:31 am
In their day, the Dixie Chicks embodied what made country music so popular… Some fun stuff, some serious stuff and much of it original, with the talented trio doing a lof of their own instrumentals. The Chicks started out as street singers in Houston, TX and worked their way up through the country music ranks the hard way. The girls didn’t turn their backs on Country Music… Country Music turned its back on the girls because they had the courage to speak their minds.
Country musicians who were critical of the Dixie Chicks played well to their audience… Haters who would deprive anyone who disagreed with them the right to speak their mind. Toby Keith, in particular, thought he was clever by trashing the Chicks then went crying to mama when they retaliated. He obviously hates strong women who aren’t afraid to take up for themselves.
As it turns out, they were 100% right about George W Bush and the Iraq war. For speaking their minds, the Chicks were far more patriotic than Dick Cheney, who made millions of bloody dollars at Haliburton. But now mostly, they just want to sing their songs and please their audience. And finally, much to the delight of their millions of fans, they’re going to have the opportunity to do that once again.