The Dixie Chicks are actually the Chicks.The platinum-selling nation trio, which in 2003 turned pariahs in Nashville for criticizing President Geor
The Dixie Chicks are actually the Chicks.
The platinum-selling nation trio, which in 2003 turned pariahs in Nashville for criticizing President George W. Bush on the eve of the American-led invasion of Iraq, has apparently modified its identify, releasing a brand new video underneath the identify the Chicks and adjusting its social media presence. However up to now the group has not made a public announcement, and representatives for the band didn’t instantly reply to request for remark.
The group’s obvious resolution comes as nationwide protests over police violence in opposition to black individuals have put a renewed highlight on racial inequalities of every kind — from company manufacturers with problematic mascots to media organizations with a scarcity of range of their high ranks.
For the Dixie Chicks, the stress has come over its use of the phrase Dixie — a nostalgic nickname for the South — simply because the nation debates points like eradicating Accomplice monuments.
The identify change comes simply because the group is about to launch its first album in 14 years, “Gaslighter,” due out on July 17.
It’s maybe the highest-profile instance of a musical act rechristening itself over questions of historic and social resonance. This month, the nation group Woman Antebellum — which has received 5 Grammy Awards — introduced it will turn out to be Woman A, saying, “Our hearts have been stirred with conviction, our eyes opened vast to the injustices, inequality and biases black men and women have at all times confronted and proceed to face on a regular basis.” (The group’s resolution has been sophisticated by the truth that no less than one different act — a black blues singer from Seattle — had already been releasing music underneath the identify Woman A, resulting in awkward settlement talks.)
However the Dixie Chicks occupy an excellent better stage of fame. As soon as a darling of nation radio, the group has crossed over to turn out to be a banner mainstream act and journal cowl topic, even at the moment. The Dixie Chicks have offered no less than 33 million albums in the USA, in accordance with the Recording Business Affiliation of America, and received 13 Grammys, together with album of the yr for its 2006 launch “Not Able to Make Good.”
That album was the Dixie Chicks’ defiant response to its abrupt ejection from the Nashville institution, after Natalie Maines, the group’s lead singer, informed a London viewers in March 2003: “We don’t want this warfare, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the USA is from Texas.”
The fallout from that assertion was instant and fierce, with followers protesting the group on tour and nation radio stations dropping once-ubiquitous hits like “Extensive Open Areas” and “With out You” from playlists. Ever since, such brutal rejection as a consequence of political speech has been so feared that it has turn out to be a verb — “Dixie Chicked.” Taylor Swift’s current documentary, “Miss Americana,” confirmed that the concern loomed over even her. (Swift additionally had the Dixie Chicks as visitors on her newest album, “Lover.”)
The group has already signaled its political intentions with “Gaslighter.” The group’s new web site declares, “We wish to meet this second,” and a brand new video launched on Thursday, for the track “March March,” options photos of present and historic protests — for girls’s rights, homosexual rights, environmental causes and Black Lives Matter.
Precisely how the group will deal with the short rebranding unclear. Its social media accounts have been shortly swapped on Thursday morning, however some merchandise, like advance vinyl copies of “Gaslighter,” has already been placed on sale underneath the previous identify.
The Dixie Chicks, based as a bluegrass group in Dallas in 1989, took its identify in reference to “Dixie Hen,” a 1973 album by the country-rock group Little Feat. The lyrics to that album’s title observe — “If you happen to’ll be my Dixie hen/I’ll be your Tennessee lamb” — comprise the sort of informal references to “Dixie” which have turned up repeatedly in nation songs, with little mainstream controversy. However as criticism of a romanticized Civil Warfare-era South has grown, they’ve drawn new scrutiny.
The Dixie Chicks, which additionally characteristic Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire, turned main nation hitmakers within the years after Maines joined in 1995, and have been hailed by critics for mixing sharp bluegrass abilities with pop sensibilities. Maines has additionally turn out to be recognized for being outspoken on progressive causes like the discharge of the West Memphis Three, a gaggle of teenage boys who have been convicted of a homicide in 1994 however later launched after widespread doubts about their case. Maines’s Twitter account at the moment states merely: “Black Lives Matter.”
However as protests over police brutality and the killing of George Floyd continued, and Individuals re-examined establishments and types with ties to racist stereotypes, the Dixie Chicks have been shortly focused with calls for to make a change. In a current opinion article in Selection, the leisure commerce publication, the journalist Jeremy Helligar mentioned that the time period Dixie “conjures a time and a spot of bondage.”