How The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks) have resonated politically and personally for over two decades

Standing in a line that wound through the southern-style restaurant, out the door and down the block of the Broadway area of downtown Nashville in the fall of 2019, I anxiously awaited the chance to order a savory smelling meal after a tremendously long day.

As the Northern Illinois University football beat writer for the DeKalb Daily Chronicle in DeKalb, Illinois, I had flown in that morning from O’Hare Airport in Chicago to Nashville to cover the team’s Saturday afternoon game against Vanderbilt University, and had walked from the stadium to the Broadway area approximately two miles away after the completion of my work duties.

After visiting bars and downing several well-earned alcoholic beverages, I meandered into the aforementioned line, waiting my turn to order. After standing inline for a few minutes, I struck up a conversation with a couple of fellow Ohio natives, which led to a discussion concerning types of country music we enjoyed.

After being agreeable about several performers, we arrived at the then-named Dixie Chicks, one of my favorite country acts, and probably the most meaningful country group in existence to me.

The look of disgust from the woman registered a quick laugh from me, as I knew exactly where this conversation was going.

“I just don’t see why they got political,” the woman said.

“So bands just should never say their political opinions ever?” Was what my response amounted to.

It was clear this older woman was stuck in a long-standing opinion of the band now known as “The Chicks.”

But this was an experience reminiscent of other times the band has been brought up in my proximity.

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The 2002 gold/beige Lexus that I drive to this day has a CD player that, much to my chagrin, does not operate.

When the car saw better, younger days and still emitted that fresh, new-car smell, my sister and I would pile into what was then my Grandma Dori’s main set of wheels.

A trip to the movie theater produced bickering over which movie we wanted to see — my sister in one instance wanted to see Dreamgirls, I wanted to see… well I don’t recall, so the winner is evident 14 years later.

Other trips around elementary and middle school years featured runs to the movies, miniature golf rounds and visits to the batting cages, among other activities of our choosing, which are still vivid in my mind half a lifetime later as I approach 27 years of age. My grandmother passed as a result of complications from Cancer when I was 17.

Even more clearly fresh in my mind than the trips for these activities is the music we sang in the car, humming down the road to Beavercreek, Xenia, Yellow Springs or Wilmington in Southwest Ohio with one band receiving more time in the CD player than any other.

The band now known as “The Chicks,” formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, emanated from those speakers with a steady frequency.

Constant refrains from “Goodbye Earl,” “White Trash Wedding,” “I Can Love You Better,” among others, made those rides memorable in many ways. Delores Persinger, my Mammaw, even in the air-conditioned car in those summer days, would have a steady stream of sweat sliding down her forehead and down her face, through and down her red-dyed short hair, smiling and laughing while singing along with her daughter Shannon’s children.

We cranked them up LOUD.

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No stranger to political controversy after 2003 comments criticizing then-President George W. Bush in the lead-up to the Iraq War — lead singer Natalie Maines quipped at a London concert “we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas,” a stance that they’ve been largely validated for having after a disastrous set of foreign policy decisionslanded the nation in a forever war of which the acknowledgement of its impact has fallen by the wayside of American consciousness.

And just like the war, Americans who were angered at the trio of Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, they seemingly forgot the Dixie Chicks too, but not after a coordinated campaign from country radio to blacklist the group from mainstream airplay.

As the New York Times’ Ben Sisario points about the origins of the band’s name: “The Dixie Chicks, founded as a bluegrass group in Dallas in 1989, took its name in reference to “Dixie Chicken,” a 1973 album by the country-rock group ‘Little Feat.’”

The Chicks have reflected with this new name, which is wholly consistent with the politically active presence they’ve maintained over the years.

Now I know what’s to come with the public discourse when their new album comes out this month (July 17).

“It’s a publicity stunt!”

“Political correctness is out of control!”

“Stick to making music!”

Nevermind that the Chicks are staying consistent to the conscientious principles they’ve long upheld, Maines most vocally, most visibly, her work speaking out on behalf of the West Memphis Three.

The decision to remove “Dixie” from the name solidifies the band’s stance of standing opposed to the celebration of an abhorrent history, in this case’ the south’s substitution of “Dixie” for the Confederacy.

Yes, many will respond that “Dixie” refers to the Mason-Dixon line. In actuality, the reference can be more specifically tied to the Confederacy. As Ben Zimmer points out for The Atlantic:

“Composed by Daniel Emmett, an Ohio-born member of the blackface minstrel troupe known as Bryant’s Minstrels. The song was first performed in New York City in April 1859, and Emmett published the sheet music the following year, with the familiar chorus ‘I wish I was in Dixie, hooray! Hooray!’ The song was a tremendous success and quickly became something of an anthem for Confederate forces when the Civil War began.”

In my own view, it wasn’t necessary for them to make the change, because people know where the Chicks stand. That said, this decision to remove Dixie is a demonstrated and inconvenient commitment to showing that they are listening to important voices in the critical political moment at hand.

Was it the most pressing issue affecting anyone? Of course not. But doing so at least acknowledges the racialized history of the term and the band has quickly gone on to center the current political movement at hand.

The Chicks were “Not Ready to Make Nice” in 2006, when issuing a follow-up album, Taking the Long Way, which won a Grammy for Album of the Year, which unequivocally showed they weren’t spending time on nonsense in the fallout of the public reaction to comments about Bush and the Iraq War.

With their new single “March March,” The Chicks tackle a set of politically pertinent issues in the track, including climate change, police brutality, gun-related violence, obviously most motivated by the steady doze of #BlackLivesMatter protests that have taken place in all 50 United States.

The haunting steel guitar steadily feeds into a simple banjo and violin sequence that feels nothing short of an epic entry into battle, where an “Army of One” isn’t one individual, but a collective call to solidarity for those motivated to speed up social change with a call-to-action for racial justice among other issues.

“Watching our youth have to solve our problems,” Maines sings in the protest tune. “I follow them so who’s coming with me? Half of you love me, half already hate me.”

The Chicks’ music, though it may no longer be “Dixie” in practice, has long registered in my soul through time and continues to do so.

I have always been grateful to the trio for creating the soundtrack to some of my most memorable moments with my grandmother and sister, as well as giving voice to political issues that most country musicians would never voice except to lend credence to a dominantly held view.

Whether it’s signing in the car on a hot summer day or punching the jukebox with enough single bills to make “Ready to Run,” or “Truth №2,” I’ll hold The Chicks close to my heart for the long haul and for a Long Time, certainly not yet gone.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go listen to the new record on repeat.