This is an older documentary that my wonderful friend loaned to me. I watched and it was the craziest thing ever. The doc follows the Dixie Chick after their now infamous George Bush hatin’. First and fore most: whaaaat the hell America? These three country girls were, in a way, ahead of the time. Before anyone really bashed on Bush, but they absolutely were not the last.
I’m not a feminist in any way, but honestly, if the Dixie Chicks would have been a male country group to say those things, their audience would not have turned on them in the crazy way that early 2000′s country fans did. This case does have an industry point though.
There was a part in the doc when the Chicks and their team are about to release a new album and no one is quite sure how to do it because radio was not an option. Country radio (and 2 corporate radio conglomerates) banned any and all Dixie Chicks songs. The manager sounded defeated, lost.
This to me show how fast this industry moves. That was only a few years ago, and without radio help, the Dixie Chicks album sales suffered greatly, which was sad because that was a really well made album. It also shows various aspects of the entertainment industry: What happens when your brand as a band suffers, how do you gain fans and media back after you do something stupid, how do you publicize something relatively unknown.
Whether you like country, the Dixie Chicks, or politics, this is a great documentary to watch about resurrecting and coping with careers in the entertainment business. Check it out.
