What Blacklash Against the Dixie Chicks?
By LEE BALLINGER “NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Billboard) — Disappointing airplay for the first two singles from the new album by the Dixie Chicks exposes a deep — and seemingly growing — rift between the trio and the country radio market…” –CNN.com, May 22, 2006 Country radio has been refusing to play the first two singles from the new Dixie Chicks album Taking the Long Way, supposedly because “country people” are still offended by Chicks’ singer Natalie Maines’ anti-Bush comments made in 2003. The new album, which defiantly takes pride in still attacking Bush, has come on the album charts today at number one, selling 526,000 copies. It is also number one on the country album charts, despite the attempted boycott by country radio. The supposed justification for this “backlash” against the Dixie Chicks is a myth now just as it was in 2003. What actually happened then when the media was filled with stories about a backlash, with allegations that all country fans and especially Southerner
