Dixie Chicks comments on George W. Bush

At a concert in London during their Top of the World Tour, the lead singer, Natalie Maines, said the Dixie Chicks were ashamed that George W. Bush was from their home state of Texas and that they did not support the imminent invasion of Iraq.

After the statement was reported by the British newspaper The Guardian, it triggered a backlash from American country listeners, who were mostly right-wing and supported the war.

The Dixie Chicks and their position on Bush was cited as an influence by later country artists including Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves.

[2] According to the Guardian journalist Betty Clarke, the Dixie Chicks were controversial in the American country establishment, which disapproved of their "feisty songs, their provocative style or the fact they were selling huge numbers of progressive bluegrass records to pop kids".

On March 10, 2003, nine days before the invasion of Iraq, the Dixie Chicks performed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theatre in London, England.

[7] Introducing their cover of "Travelin' Soldier", the lead singer, Natalie Maines, told the audience:[8]Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all.

We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.After Maines made her comment, her bandmate, Emily Strayer, added: "But you know we're behind the troops 100 percent.

[13] WTDR-FM in Talladega, Alabama, dropped the Dixie Chicks after more than 250 listeners called on a single day to criticize Maines's comments.

[14] The Dixie Chicks' manager, Simon Renshaw, noted that, by contrast, the stations continued to play the music of Tracy Lawrence, who had been convicted of spousal abuse in 1998.

[15] In a poll by an Atlanta radio station, 76 percent of listeners who participated responded they would return their Dixie Chicks CDs if they could.

[4] On March 12, two days after she had made her statement, Maines issued a disclaimer:[7] While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost.

I am a proud American.That month, the former US vice president Al Gore told a college audience: "[The Dixie Chicks] were made to feel un-American and risked economic retaliation because of what was said.

"[20] The country musician Merle Haggard, who released a song criticizing American media coverage of the Iraq War, wrote that the backlash was "like a verbal witch hunt and lynching".

[21][22] On April 24, Bush responded to the controversy in an interview with the broadcaster Tom Brokaw:[23] The Dixie Chicks are free to speak their mind.

[24] At their first show of the Dixie Chicks' American tour, on May 1 in Greenville, South Carolina, Maines wore a T-shirt bearing the words "Dare to Be Free".

"[28] On May 21, at the Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, the Dixie Chicks' nomination for Entertainer of the Year was announced to boos.

"[31] In September, Maguire told the German magazine Der Spiegel that the Dixie Chicks no longer felt part of the country music scene.

That year, they joined acts including Springsteen and Pearl Jam for the Vote for Change tour, raising money for causes against Bush's reelection.

[2] The television network NBC refused to air a commercial for the documentary, citing a policy against ads dealing with "public controversy".

[6] Focus tests by KFKF-FM in Kansas City found that listeners still disliked them; the program director said: "It's not the music, because we're playing them the hits they used to love.

[2] The Dixie Chicks and their position on Bush was cited as an influence by later country artists including Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves.

[36] In 2019, Swift said that country artists had come under pressure from record companies to avoid talking about politics and to "not be like the Dixie Chicks", which she felt was unjust.

[37] The music journalist Kelefa Sanneh wrote in 2021 that the controversy "made it easier for smug partisans on both sides to feel validated".