Though They Have a Traditional Twang, The Dixie Chicks Have No Problem Being Unorthodox
Even for groundbreaking chart-toppers, timing is everything -- good or bad.
And the Dixie Chicks' new American tour, whose second and fourth shows are in Orlando on Saturday and in Tampa on Monday, couldn't have come at a more conspicuous time.
The Chicks haven't completely popped from the frying pan into the fire, however, following Natalie Maines' infamous remark about President Bush ("Just So You Know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas," Maines said to a London audience).
Since that March 10 quip, the Chicks' latest country single, "Travelin' Soldier" -- perceived before the war as a prospective cheer-'em up for American troops -- became about as welcome on country radio as an Eminem tune.
After a 65-percent drop in airplay in one week alone, the song dropped from No. 3 to No. 31 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, the magazine reported.
The song eventually fell off the chart altogether, just as "Landslide," the Chicks' cover of the old Fleetwood Mac tune, did on Billboard's pop singles chart, the Hot 100.
But sales of the group's music has been another story.
Within the last two weeks, "Landslide" has been the second-highest selling single in the country, according to Billboard.
And the Chicks' latest album, "Home," was among Billboard's Top 20 albums in the country -- even after 32 weeks on the chart and total sales of 6 million copies.
Ticket sales of the group's new "Top of the World Tour" tell a similar story. Most of the 60 arena dates on the tour have sold out, while some seats remain for a handful of shows, including Tampa's.
And while two apologies by Maines were posted on the group's Web site (www.dixiechicks.com), including one in which she apologized to the president for her "disrespectful remark," the group has since gone on a national offensive of their own.
Maines and her fellow sister-act Chicks, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, appeared on an hourlong "Prime Time Live" last week in which they pleaded their case as one of patriotic, if polite disagreement.
"The way I said it was disrespectful," the 28-year-old Maines told Diane Sawyer. "I feel regret for the choice of words."
But Maines, along with Robison and Maguire, who are 30 and 32, respectively, also made a case for acceptance of who they are as artists.
"Accept us," Maines said. "Accept an apology that was made. Accept that what we're saying right now is heartfelt, full of compassion, and honesty, but . . . don't forgive us for who we are."
Despite the continuing hullabaloo, the Chicks themselves appear to have changed little since breaking through from their beginnings as an all-female Texas group, which once played on a Dallas street corner for $300, to becoming one of country music's biggest acts.
Before "Home," the group's first two albums, 1998's "Wide Open Spaces" and 1999's "Fly," established a distinctive take on country music from the get-go.
Combining traditional instrumentation (including banjos, Dobros, mandolins and fiddles) with pure-as-honey vocal harmony -- and an individualist, even feministic approach to lyrics ("Goodbye, Earl") -- paid off with the trio's first two albums selling 10 million copies each.
The Chicks' most recent example of an unconventional approach -- appearing on the cover of the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly nude except for words on their skin -- may raise eyebrows in grocery stores around the country.
But as the group implies in the accompanying interview, they're still essentially doing things their own, individual way.
"It's not about the nakedness," Maines said. "It's that the clothes got in the way of the labels. We're not defined by who we are anymore. Other people are doing that for us."
Bill Dean can be reached at bill.dean@theledger.com or 863-802-7527.
WHO: The Dixie Chicks, with Joan Osborne COST: $65, $45, $35, Ticketmaster PHONE: 682-5300. WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday WHERE: TD Waterhouse Centre, Orlando WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday. WHERE: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa