Long live The Dixie Chicks

Speaking of women whose outspokenness and ability I've admired almost as long as their good looks...

You may have heard that The Dixie Chicks have recently released their first new music since the firestorm. That link will play you their new single, "Not Ready To Make Nice."

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I like it; Bill Sherman said recently that it's overproduced and he's right in places, but the instrumentation and singing balances that out, for the most part. The song is already in the top 40 on the country charts, and has reportedly been getting a very positive reaction on satellite radio as well.

If anything, the Chicks now just look ahead of their time. They were ashamed of Bush before the rest of the country caught on to what an incompetent he was. Now that they have, well...is anybody really that surprised that the Dixie Chicks are still doing well?

Now, what's weird is that many traditional media outlets are calling this a "comeback." Even though, as two or three blogs have documented, the Chicks didn't exactly fall from grace...

They fail to point out that although the corporately-led boycott by radio stations indebted to the policies of the Bush Regime meant less airplay for the Dixie Chicks, sales of CDs and concert tickets actually increased. In 2003 The Dixie Chicks won 4 Grammy Awards (their first ever): Best Country Album (HOME), Best Country Performance ("Long Time Gone"), Best Country Instrumental Performance ("Lil' Jack Slade") and Best Recording Package (HOME). And the Dixie Chicks went from being a band appreciated by country music fans to being a band appreciated by MUSIC fans-- all over the world.

And I'm among them.