March March—Murfin Home Confinement Music Festival 2020

March March by The Chicks.

Remember the Dixie Chicks, the female trio who shook up country music in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s?  Texans singer Natalie Maines and multi-instrumentalist sisters Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Strayer were Platinum Record artists and multiple Grammy, Billboard,   Academy of Country Music, and Country Music Association Award winners.  But it almost ended in 2003 when Natalie Maines told a British audience that they did not support the upcoming invasion of Iraq and were “ashamed” that President George W. Bush was from Texas.  Overnight they became country music pariahs and their music was banned from country radio.

Critisism of President George W. Bush during the ramp up of the invasion of Iraq while the Dixie Chicks were on their Top of the World tour made them overnight country music pariahs.

They never really went away, although the country music establishment still shuns them.  They became stars of the emerging Americana genre, cross-over pop, and were embraced by feminist and progressive fans.   They came roaring back with a defiant single Not Ready to Make Nice off of the Taking the Long Way album and tour in 2007.    

In March of this year, with 33 million albums sold, and sales of 27.5 million albums in the U.S. alone, the Dixie Chicks became the bestselling female band and bestselling country group in the U.S. during the Nielsen SoundScan era 1991 to present

Then this Thursday, June 25 inspired by the Black Lives Matter Movement and the waves of protest across the nation the trio dropped Dixie from their name like a statue of Jefferson Davis toppling from a pillar.   Now simply The Chicks the also released a powerful new song March March with a stunning video directed by Seanne Farmer. 

Introducing The Chicks.

The song and the video touch the multiple issues roiling America and responses to them.  The production also checks and supports a list of activist organizations including Headcount Black Lives Matter, the Human Rights Campaign, American Civil Liberties Union, Supermajority Education Fund, March For Our Lives, Mi Familia Vota, Native American Rights Fund, Planned Parenthood, White People For Black Lives, the Innocence Project, and Proclaim Justice.

 March March is truly an anthem for this moment.  Thanks, Chicks!