The Chicks' victory is nearly complete.
Let me add my voice to the growing chorus that's applauding the Dixie Chicks new album, Taking the Long Way, and its unrepentant stance against America's continuing drift, what Natalie Manes said about Bush and Nashville's pitifully small-minded crap. Make that the small-mindedness of the mainstream country music establishment and some—not all— of its fans.
The always smug Reba McEntire, who entirely made a fool of herself on the ACM award telecast by tweaking the Chicks can only dream of the kind of sales they’ve nailed down: 525,000 the first week and 271,000 in the second. Another good week and they strike platinum.
To be fair, no, it's not strictly a country record, more like urban country folk rock. And to go even further, they haven’t been a purist country act in a long time.
The best part for me is the reaction the record has drawn here in New York, a town where causes large and small are always welcome. This morning I saw two people in Starbucks sipping Caramel Macchiatos, buying what, judging by their reaction, was their first country music record ever. Now that's what I call marketing.
