Not Cool, Dixie Chicks

There's a musical act I've enjoyed for about a decade. Its members are Bush haters, and it's become a big issue.

There's another musical act I've enjoyed for three times longer. He's a Bush hater, too, and it's largely a non-issue.

Welcome to the plight of the millions of Americans like me who have CD collections containing Neil Young and the Dixie Chicks.

Mr. Young's fan base is mostly male, middle-age and full of rock 'n' roll memories of the '60s and '70s. Dixie Chicks fans tend to skew far younger and more female and are more likely to follow Keith Urban than Keith Richards.

Mr. Young has been a stalwart voice from the radical left wing of music since before his defining days alongside Crosby, Stills and Nash. The Dixie Chicks, however, were sweethearts of red-state America until that dark night on a London stage in 2003 when lead singer Natalie Maines' patter between songs contained one sentiment that cost them millions of dollars and millions of fans: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

History does not record the British fan reaction at that moment, but it will long note the revulsion of American fans when the story reached our shores.

It's not that the Chicks had ever shown any particular conservative stripe. In fact, after years of blissfully apolitical adulation, their most noteworthy hit was "Goodbye Earl," a snappy feminist revenge fantasy in the spring of 2000 about a woman who poisons an abusive husband.

Fans scarcely blinked. Against a backdrop of instant classics - from "Wide Open Spaces" to "Cowboy Take Me Away" and beyond - there is no doubt that Dixie Chicks songs will be woven into America's musical memory indefinitely. Their first three albums are the stuff of legend, virtually unmatched in terms of exploding sales and appeal.

We're about to find out whether that's all over. Their first studio CD since Ms. Maines put her foot in it was released yesterday. Taking the Long Way includes a single released last month, "Not Ready to Make Nice." It is proof that the Chicks have no interest in making amends to millions of offended fans.

Most were probably ready to forgive and forget. After two years as radio poison, country stations slowly began to reintroduce their spectacular catalog of hits. They paid a heavy price, and the country audience is usually ready to welcome back wayward souls who are repentant.

But such humility is nowhere to be found. Distancing from Ms. Maines' swift and apparently phony "apology" three years ago, the Chicks confirm in their new single and several recent interviews that they are adopting the political bigotry common in the rock world.

They lamely dwell on the admittedly disgusting death threats they received, paying no attention to the 99.9 percent of critics who did not wish to shoot them, just to punish their obnoxiousness by avoiding their product.

Country radio would have reflected a forgiving public and jumped to play the well-crafted songs on the new CD. But the Dixie Chick plan is apparently a large-scale shift in fan base. This quote from mandolinist/fiddler Martie Maguire might just do the trick: "I'd rather have a small following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith."

Let's summarize. If you admire President Bush and the war, you don't "get it." Well, we're about to see how much "growth" occurs without much radio airplay and without a good chunk of their prior fan base.

They probably will not starve. The new CD offers the same gifted writing, singing and playing that made them huge. They may never sell like before, but how many Bentleys can these girls drive?

Critics also adore the Neil Young CD, featuring a catchy Bush-bashing rocker, "Let's Impeach the President." Mr. Young gets very little radio play, and in this dawning era of downloads, that may not matter.

The difference is that the Dixie Chicks, whether or not they liked it, were once a country act with a primarily country audience that did not enjoy hearing the president slammed.

There are exceptions, but it's generally understood that most rock acts skew hard left, and most country acts don't. Bush hatred will not damage Neil Young's career, but if George Strait ever goes on the attack, it will be a problem.