If the Dixie Chicks feel the urge they’ll go nyah, nyah for a while thank you very much. The shunned dark angels in Country Music, banned by the radio stations and engaged in more than few feuds with the Country establishment, took five awards home from the Grammy Awards show on Sunday night.
The trio, who at one time this past summer had to reschedule performance dates to Canada, that after a lukewarm reception in some American centers got the last laugh on their once musical genre Sunday. The trio collected their slew of little gramophone statues, including one for Best Country Album and delivered a passionate rendition of their huge hit Not Ready to Make Nice.
It was a remarkable return to favour for a group that came darn near being called Tokyo Rose, Hanoi Jane and Baghdad Betty all in one year. The group found themselves in trouble a few years back when Natalie Maines made some outspoken criticisms of the US President George W. Bush from a stage in London, England.
As documented in the documentary Shut up and Sing, it was from that point on it seemed that in Country music they were done, in a climate of you’re either for us or agin us, the industry seemed to propel itself to histrionic behavior with death threats, the banning of their music on the radio and CD burning sessions in some southern locales.
The animosity grew into personal feuds between the Chicks and Toby Keith and then to reigning country diva Reba McEntire. It seemed that freedom of speech was ok, as long it was the right kind of freedom of speech.
By that time it had seemed that the Chicks were moving away from mainstream country music anyways, so the shove away from their musical launching pad probably helped in the long run.
They hardened up their sound, took on a rap and rock impresario in the name of Rick Rubin and released a harder edged album with some pointed messages that as the Grammy Awards recognized on Sunday found a home with an audience.
Not Ready to Make Nice, neatly captures their years in musical purgatory and their ability to stay true to their sound and themselves. The awards show was a vindication night for the trio, who repeatedly came to the stage to accept their awards. Besides the Best Country Album of the Year, the Chicks picked up Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Country Performance ( shout out hey yah!, there Reba and Toby!)
Outside of the show opening reunion of the Police with Roxanne, The Chicks collection night was pretty well the only drama in a rather typical Grammy affair. It was a night which was long on thank yous, overlong intros and occasional musical contributions. There seemed to be a heavier than usual influence of rap and hip hop in the show, an attempt for the Academy to try and stay relevant one guesses, though one suspects that the number of artists probably went unrecognizable to many watching at home.
But for drama you can’t beat the story of the Dixie Chicks and their long way home, it will be interesting to see if the road leads them back to Nashville and if they and Nashville are ready to make nice when the Country Music Awards hold their red, white and blue days later this year.
The trio, who at one time this past summer had to reschedule performance dates to Canada, that after a lukewarm reception in some American centers got the last laugh on their once musical genre Sunday. The trio collected their slew of little gramophone statues, including one for Best Country Album and delivered a passionate rendition of their huge hit Not Ready to Make Nice.
It was a remarkable return to favour for a group that came darn near being called Tokyo Rose, Hanoi Jane and Baghdad Betty all in one year. The group found themselves in trouble a few years back when Natalie Maines made some outspoken criticisms of the US President George W. Bush from a stage in London, England.
As documented in the documentary Shut up and Sing, it was from that point on it seemed that in Country music they were done, in a climate of you’re either for us or agin us, the industry seemed to propel itself to histrionic behavior with death threats, the banning of their music on the radio and CD burning sessions in some southern locales.
The animosity grew into personal feuds between the Chicks and Toby Keith and then to reigning country diva Reba McEntire. It seemed that freedom of speech was ok, as long it was the right kind of freedom of speech.
By that time it had seemed that the Chicks were moving away from mainstream country music anyways, so the shove away from their musical launching pad probably helped in the long run.
They hardened up their sound, took on a rap and rock impresario in the name of Rick Rubin and released a harder edged album with some pointed messages that as the Grammy Awards recognized on Sunday found a home with an audience.
Not Ready to Make Nice, neatly captures their years in musical purgatory and their ability to stay true to their sound and themselves. The awards show was a vindication night for the trio, who repeatedly came to the stage to accept their awards. Besides the Best Country Album of the Year, the Chicks picked up Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Country Performance ( shout out hey yah!, there Reba and Toby!)
Outside of the show opening reunion of the Police with Roxanne, The Chicks collection night was pretty well the only drama in a rather typical Grammy affair. It was a night which was long on thank yous, overlong intros and occasional musical contributions. There seemed to be a heavier than usual influence of rap and hip hop in the show, an attempt for the Academy to try and stay relevant one guesses, though one suspects that the number of artists probably went unrecognizable to many watching at home.
But for drama you can’t beat the story of the Dixie Chicks and their long way home, it will be interesting to see if the road leads them back to Nashville and if they and Nashville are ready to make nice when the Country Music Awards hold their red, white and blue days later this year.
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