Glad to see them receiving recognition

Published 9:00 pm Friday, February 23, 2007

I was thrilled to see the headline announcing the enormous recognition of the Dixie Chicks at the 2006 Grammy Awards. I think the negative attention paid to Natalie Maines’ comments made in London are ridiculous. Many of us watch “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central or “Saturday Night Live” each week and laugh at derogatory remarks about the president. Her comments should have received a snicker or a shake of the head and then possibly led to a spirited political discussion amongst friends, not to CD burning and boycotting.

The Chicks are extremely talented musicians and I am excited to see them receiving recognition for this talent despite the cold reception of the country music establishment. Country music is overflowing with ultra-patriotic stars like Darryl Worley and his pro-war “Have You Forgotten.”

I think it’s unfortunate that there are a few overzealous individuals contacting radio stations and threatening to tune out their station for good if they play “Not Ready to Make Nice.” I continued to listen to local country radio stations when they played irritating songs such as Worley’s, but started tuning them out when they neglected to play “Not Ready to Make Nice.” I hope these Grammy awards catapult the Dixie Chicks beyond the country music category and they will instead be played on more mainstream stations in the future.

Mindy Farmer Everett