Posted on 01/30/2006 11:41:01 AM PST by beansox
Heart of Dixie Three years later, Dixie Chicks frontwoman Natalie Maines talks to Entertainment Weekly about why she's ''pretty much done'' with Nashville in the wake of her anti-Bush comments by Whitney Pastorek
On March 10, 2003, the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines stepped onto a London stage and announced, ''We're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.'' All hell promptly broke loose. A month later, she and bandmates Martie Maguire and Emily Robison finally addressed the controversy for the first time, posing naked on the cover of EW and candidly discussing the firestorm Maines' comment sparked. Now the group is prepping its first album since The Incident, and they're promising it will be a big departure from past work. Produced by Rick Rubin, it's shaping up to be an old-fashioned rock album, reminiscent of '70s rock bands like the Eagles (the still-untitled disc is due in stores this April). One highlight is sure to be ''Not Ready to Make Nice,'' which directly addresses the fallout from the big Bush bash. When we called Maines for an exclusive preview, she — not shockingly — had plenty to say.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Tell me about the songwriting and the sorts of messages you guys wanted to put into the album. I've heard you discuss The Incident? NATALIE MAINES We had tried to write about it a couple times before and it just wasn't right, you know? Sometimes you can be a little scared to rehash it or sound preachy, and I think [''Not Ready To Make Nice''] is just very honest.
Let's say the album comes out and everyone who was outraged about your comments embraces it with open arms. Are you gonna go back to Nashville and say, ''Hey, we're back!'' Or has this completely altered the course you guys were on? For me as a person, [The Incident has] completely altered the course I was on. For me to be in country music to begin with was not who I was. I liked Martie and Emily's playing, but I did not grow up liking country music. And I guess I was ignorant to the fact that the stereotypes behind country music were true — and it was disappointing. And so at this stage, I can never... I would be cheating myself and not setting a good example for my children to go back to something that I don't wholeheartedly believe in. So I'm pretty much done. They've shown their true colors. I like lots of country music, but as far as the industry and everything that happened... I couldn't want to be farther away from that. And it's easier when you're financially set, because you can be a little more ballsy, and just do what you want to do. I don't want people to think that me not wanting to be a part of country music is any sort of revenge. It is not. It is totally me being who I am, and not wanting to compromise myself and hate my life. All of my anger... I've pretty much gotten past that. Writing the album was therapy.
So the hair-metal album is coming out when? [Laughs] If I had my way, we'd have a hair-metal covers album! But I don't think I'm gonna have my way...
Do you think if this hadn't happened — The Incident, as we keep calling it — that you would have eventually come to the decision to leave country anyway? Gosh, who knows. I never like to guess about the future or what I would have done. I'm just grateful that all of this did happen. None of the three of us have any regrets. It was eye-opening, and positive in so many ways. I wouldn't change any of it. I want people to be clear that there is no ill will when I say that I can't be a part of the industry. I don't mean country music, I just mean the industry. I don't want it to seem immature. I want people to know that it was given a lot of thought. And it's just honesty.
Do you think you guys bore the brunt of the anti-American accusations during the 2004 election? I don't really know what happened to other people, but I think we were made the examples. I mean, Jennifer Aniston called Bush a ''f---ing idiot'' [in a 2001 interview] and nothing happened to her.
Well, Brad broke up with her. [Laughs] That must be why. A closet Republican! I knew it. No, I think we probably got it more than anybody else.
''I Hope,'' your Katrina benefit single, is nominated for Best Country Song and Performance at this year's Grammys. If you guys win, you're not gonna walk up there and be like, ''Suckas!'' [Laughs] Who knows what I'll do. But I am very... um... I'm just kind of... what's the word I'm looking for? I'm neither here nor there about any of that stuff right now. I mean, it's always an honor to be nominated for a Grammy, that's the most prestigious music award. But I just... I don't know, it's almost kinda sad, I don't really get excited about it anymore.
When did you stop getting excited? Uh... when this whole thing went down. I don't know what that comes from. I'm sure time will heal that, too. I guess it just made a lot of things seem false to me.
How do Emily and Martie feel about this? Um... I don't know. We're all on the same page... professionally. And some of us like country music more than others [Laughs], but nobody's forcing anyone else not to... um... you know, go the direction that we're going. We're all on the same page.
Sometimes I wonder if there should be an Outspoken Frontmen Anonymous support group or something, where the people who aren't at the microphone saying the thing that gets everyone in trouble can go off and be like, ''Man, she did it again.'' ''I know, man, you should have heard what Bono said tonight.'' [Laughs] Well, I think what makes it different is, we were never political. It was totally circumstances. And when it all came down, Martie — we were in the elevator in London and she was like, ''I could have been the one that said that.'' There was no finger-pointing or blame. And Emily and Martie joke that even when they've said, uh, colorful things on stage, usually someone puts my name on it. [Laughs] It's not a problem. Every day a soldier dies, I am more proud that I spoke out. For the last three years, I am at a loss for words as to... what this country is. Who we are. I really think people have just gone insane. And they think we've gone insane. I think it's sad that you have to truly seek out the truth these days, because CNN and Fox News don't give it to you. So you can't really point a finger at individuals, because it's exhausting to seek out fact from fiction. I used to try and make sense of it but when Bush got reelected, I just didn't know what to do. Keep livin'. It's gotta change back. Politics — I just think it's all corrupt. The entire country is controlled by money. And I think that's what people feel, they don't — their voice isn't heard. They don't have a say. It's corporate America. My friend made up the word corpocracy. I love that word.
Do you think you'll ever publicly take a stand about anything that loudly again? Oh yeah, sure. Now I say we have nothing to lose. [Laughs] Nothing to lose. And I feel a responsibility to do it now. I didn't realize how quiet I was being. But it's exhausting to keep doing it. You feel like you're fighting an uphill battle. But — it's just not in me to shy away from things that I truly believe in. I have to stand up for them. So no. I'm not afraid of any of that.
Your statement about her Daddy's work was just flatly incorrect.
This comment cracked me up, "Their former-fans wouldn't buy their new album now, even if it would resurrect Dale Earnhardt."
I used to really like the Dixie Chicks, too. They did have some great songs, but I change the station if they come on now.
What I did think was odd was right around the time they said they were done with country, Cheryl Crowe moved to Nashville and said she WAS country. It was like, "Fantast- oh, crap."
No, its actually quite accurate. Daddy is the one who got her the gig. Had daddy really had the ties into the rock n roll industry as you claim, he would have used them to get her a gig. He did what he could and her life for the last six years was apparantly hell (her words not mine) because she had to pretend she was "country". On the other had, I guess he could have tried to get her a gig in rock n roll and they just dindt like her. ;)
Whats also interesting is that their new sound is gonna be something close to what Cheryl Crowe put out on her last album. Well there isnt really a "demand" for that format. I dont think it even sold a million.
I agree with you. I don't even think Rick Rubin is going to save this one.
Gee I guess no one believed you were sincere when you said the following Natalie (for good reason) - that's why you are "pretty much done":
"As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect," Maines said in her latest statement."
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/03/14/dixie.chicks.apology/
First it was "we arnt' country anymore, it can no longer be our home"...then it was "we didnt say that, it was taken out of context"...now its "i never liked country, it was never me, its hell"...
wtf? do they think people cant see them for LIARS they are???
Its been a lie from the very start!
You are spouting a bunch of opinion as fact, and you don't know what you are talking about.
Lloyd himself toured with the Clash. You've heard of them, right?
Then why didnt he get his daughter a gig in "rock" instead of making her life "hell" (again, her words not mine) having to sing country??
BUMP
Poor little girl still doest get it. It wasn't what she said it's where she said it. If she said it in New York city I doubt anybody would have cared but she had to open her big fat mouth in London on the eve of war.
She should have a nice long talk with Jane Fonda if she really wants to know what happend.
And what stereotype is that? Patriotic value-loving work ethic get the job doners? That's fine by me.
So much better than the elitest, anti-american, mostly ignorant, always stupid reactionary hollywood crowd that never saw a brutal, repressive dictator they didn't fawn over Natalie has thrown her lot in with.
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