SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) – The Dixie Chicks have hatched a plan to re-enter the political fray with an activist message designed not to offend anyone: vote.
The Texas trio announced Monday that they’ve joined forces with the Rock the Vote campaign to urge young people to participate in elections. They said they wouldn’t advocate a particular political party.
The country stars endured a vitriolic backlash earlier this year after singer Natalie Maines made a remark about President Bush at a London concert shortly before the Iraq war. “Just so you know,” she said, “we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.”
After sales of the band’s discs plummeted and some radio stations banned their singles, Maines apologized for the phrasing of her remark but has continued to say she had the right to criticize Bush and his policies.
The group’s involvement with Rock the Vote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1990, is an indirect result of the Bush uproar. “We never had intentions to become a political band but like it or not we have been placed on a unique political platform in the past months,” Maines said Monday. “We feel it would be irresponsible not to make something positive come out of that.”
Besides lending their images and music to a Rock the Vote Web site that will guide people through the voter registration process, bandmates Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison said they would urge people at their concerts to become politically active.
The Dixie Chicks won’t, however, be speaking out on any political issues for a while.
“We won’t as a band, and we probably won’t on the stage,” said Maguire. “But we will feel free to give our opinion in our personal lives. And we’ve always answered questions when people ask us, so we will not be afraid of that.”
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