Performing Arts - Shut Up and Sing

This Chicks flick by Barbara Kopple (Academy Award winner for Harlan County, U.S.A.) and Cecilia Peck is powerful testament to the inconvenient truth that free speech can come at a very high cost. The Dixie Chicks, Texas-based and one of country musics most successful acts, found out just how costly it was in the weeks following a March 10, 2003, concert in London. Indulging in some between-song patter, singer Natalie Maines expressed shame that the president of the United States is from Texas. In politics, as in comedy, timing is everything and at the time, President George W. Bushs popularity among the Chicks traditional country fans was sky-high, and the invasion of Iraq was imminent. Reaction was fast and furious. Country radio stations boycotted the Dixie Chicks music. Conservative talk show hosts lambasted them. Country superstar Toby Keith got into the act by denigrating Maines in his concerts. People destroyed Dixie Chicks CDs in public protests that echoed the furor sparked by John Lennons 1966 Were more popular than Jesus now comment. The trio’s tour had to be scaled back and rerouted to include friendlier climes (Canada).