For years, The Chicks’ downfall has served as a cautionary tale for other country music artists in the genre who feel the urge to share their political viewpoints with the world. In 2020, Taylor Swift told Variety that their shunning was the cause of her long silence about politics. “I saw how one comment ended such a powerful reign, and it terrified me,” she said.
That comment came from the mouth of Natalie Maines in 2003, back when she and her bandmates, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, were still performing as The Dixie Chicks. Then-president George W. Bush was beating the war drum, and Maines told a London audience, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas,” per CBS News. The reaction to her remarks was brutal and extreme. Former fans trashed their CDs, angry listeners flooded radio stations with calls complaining about Maines, and The Chicks’ music was banned from many radio stations. The backlash left their career in tatters.
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In 2020, the group released “Gaslighter,” their first album after a 14-year hiatus. Maines also criticized another president, saying that Donald Trump made her view Dubya in a whole new light. “Today, I might actually make out with George Bush,” she quipped on “Watch What Happens Live.” But instead of playing nice with the former POTUS, she and her bandmates performed the national anthem for future president Joe Biden at the DNC.
