A few weeks ago, we requested an interview with the Dixie Chicks. They declined.
And why wouldn’t they? Since March, when singer Natalie Maines spoke out against the president and his war in Iraq, myopic media pundits have relentlessly ripped into the trio in print and on the air.
When the Chicks recently said they no longer feel at home in the country-music world, where they’ve been slandered from here to Corpus Christi, many columnists jumped on them all over again.
Country radio may have made the Dixie Chicks superstars, but the music always spoke for itself. The trio’s social views are crystal clear in their hit songs, such as “Goodbye Earl,” about domestic abuse, and “Travelin’ Soldier,” about a frightened young serviceman.
The Dixie Chicks are bigger than what goes for country music today. Like the best country artists – from Loretta Lynn to Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon and Willie right up to Steve Earle – the Chicks have said things and done things that fly in the face of convention. That’s what great artists do. It’s not about right wing or left wing – it’s about expressing one’s heart and soul.
Forget those Nashville robots who wrap themselves in flags and sing, manipulative revenge songs. Let’s welcome the Chicks into the wide-open space of a new world, where ambitious music and ideas are embraced.
Say goodbye, Earl.
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(c) 2003, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).
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