Country outcasts find new direction

Lead singer Natalie Maines said she doesn't listen to country radio.
NEW YORK (AP) -- One of the more innocuous explanations given to the Dixie Chicks as to why country radio hasn't been playing their new single, "Not Ready to Make Nice," is because the defiant song doesn't fit in with everything else that's playing on the dial.
Upon hearing that, the Dixie Chicks have only two words to say: "Thank you."
"I don't even know what's played on country radio, but when they tell me some titles, it cracks me up," laughs lead singer Natalie Maines, sitting in a swank New York hotel as the group promotes its new album, "Taking the Long Way," out this week.
"Besides, where would we fit on the playlist between 'Honky Tonk Badonkadonk' and 'Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off'?" asks Maines, citing two recent country hits, as the rest of the Chicks -- sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison -- join in her laughter.
"We don't want to be a square peg," pipes in Robison, while Maines adds: "We'd rather be the square peg on the other side!"
It speaks volumes about how wide the chasm is between the Dixie Chicks and country music when one of the most successful bands in the genre's history is cast as an outsider just three years after having one of its best-selling albums.
"They're in a strange place," says Chris Willman, a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly who has profiled the band for the magazine. "They're the biggest group in country but they aren't heard on country radio."
Famous remark
Of course, the reason for the divide has very little to do with their new musical direction (more California rock than country twang) and everything to do with the bitterness and anger that remains from the fallout over what has become known simply as "the comment."
It happened in 2003, on the eve of the United States' war with Iraq, when the Texas-based trio was on a European tour to support "Home," their 6 million-selling, Grammy-winning album. Before a London audience, Maines made the off-the-cuff remark: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
Almost overnight, Maines' comment became fodder for talk-show conservatives, who lambasted her for being unpatriotic. Soon, their music was being boycotted, with radio stations pulling their songs from their playlists. Country fans stopped buying their album, causing it to plummet on the charts.
The swiftness and intensity of the rejection took them by surprise. After all, this was a critically acclaimed group hailed as not only the most successful female group in country music, but in all music -- of all time, selling 30 million albums.
"I didn't realize there was that much hatred out there," says Maines, softly. "It was kind of a letdown. I kind of lost hope."
Robison notes that prior to Maines' remark, the band was identified more with tart-tongued lyrics and female empowerment than world affairs.
"It feels weird that a band that was so apolitical was thrust into something so political," says Robison.
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