Natalie Maines, the lead singer of the Chicks, looked out at the sold-out crowd at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan on Monday night and laughed at how much her perspective on politics had changed — and how much it hadn’t.
In 2003, many country radio stations refused to play the group’s music and angry protesters destroyed their CDs after Maines, then a Texas resident, told an audience that “we are ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas,” referring to George W. Bush. The trio responded to the backlash with “Taking the Long Way,” the 2006 album that won the Grammy for album of the year and launched the band back into the pop mainstream.
On a tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of that release, Maines’s banter returned to the presidency, as she joked to the crowd, “We thought that was the worst it could get. Now I’d give George Bush a big wet kiss.” Emblazoned on Chicks tour merch was an updated version of the original incendiary statement: “We’re ashamed the president of the United States is from the United States.”
The timing of the tour, ahead of midterm elections and amid controversies over other artists’ stated and unstated politics, wasn’t lost on the Chicks band members — Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire — who now all live in California but had their eyes on Texas races. They discussed the current crop of artists navigating politics and pop, performing the comeback album in full, and their legacy of not backing down.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
How did you decide that this was a tour you wanted to do? Why did this feel like something worth celebrating?
MAGUIRE Natalie had the idea of “what if we do a different kind of show?” where it’s truly intimate and it’s really for the die-hard fans. We’re not trying to win them over, they’re already fans and they really want to see behind the curtain. This is gold to them because they get to kind of see the real us.
MAINES Instead of the fake us that we’re always …
MAGUIRE OK, the unpolished us, and they get to see us interacting. Sometimes you go onstage and you’re just trying to get through the show and there’s not a lot of camaraderie, and this kind of breaks it down and you really see our personalities more.
In your 2006 documentary “Shut Up and Sing,” Natalie, you say that you don’t want the 2003 incident with George W. Bush to be your legacy. What do you think about that comment now?
MAINES I mean, it’s definitely part of our legacy. It’s what’s brought up in every interview, forever. And that’s fine, I’m fine with it. Still stand behind it.
STRAYER When you’re in your 50s and not your 30s anymore, as we say, our give-a-[expletive] are very few these days. I look back and I just want to hug the younger me and be like, “Why did you care so much about this that or the other?” And it’s impossible to answer those questions, but I just think time and the climate today and everything else just gives even more perspective on it than it did even five or 10 years after everything happened. Playing those songs again and hearing some of the lyrics, I don’t know, it’s really fulfilling, actually.
Listening to the songs in the political climate now, they still feel so relevant in a way. So I think that’s also a way to reflect on our current times.
MAINES The fans are fired up.
MAGUIRE We didn’t know if they were going to sit, because there’s cushy velvet seats in a lot of these beautiful theaters, and they’re standing the whole time, which is so exciting.
MAINES And they get mad at all the old clips and all the political stuff still.
We’re seeing this crop of young women artists like Olivia Rodrigo or Renée Rapp who are speaking about political issues. From your perspective, what has changed in the culture to allow them to safely do that?
STRAYER I mean, the elder statesmen or stateswomen now sling all this stuff at each other and there’s really no rules anymore. And so I feel like being canceled for political reasons doesn’t really happen —
MAINES Well, ask Ed Sheeran.
STRAYER You have the internet for good, bad or otherwise, but you have your people behind you and we didn’t really have that luxury. The woman who designed our tour, Emily Cox, gave us an award on the first night and it was this like cheesy bowling trophy or something with three stars and it said “first to be canceled.” She’s like, “I expect you to keep this with your Grammys.”
Any other thoughts you want to share on the Ed Sheeran situation?
MAINES I think it’s probably smart to stay out of that.
On this tour, you have merch that reads, “We’re ashamed the president of the United States is from the United States.” So coming into this, what was the thought process behind how political you wanted to be or what things you wanted comment on?
MAINES We definitely lean into it and knew our fans would love that shirt. It’s the second-biggest seller behind the tour shirt.
STRAYER And the fact that people are going to be walking around wearing that makes me so happy.
So much of the backlash you were getting back in 2003 had misogyny baked into it, and now we’re seeing more women in the country music space really thrive and be accepted. How do you think the culture has changed in country music?
STRAYER I’ve always thought women country artists were way more interesting, and the fact that it was so male-dominated was kind of a head-scratcher, but I don’t know industry-wise why that is or why women are speaking out. Maren Morris was kind of walking that line and she’s kind of been ostracized a bit for her political stances. So it’s still going on.
MAGUIRE Kacey [Musgraves] always says everything so tongue-in-cheek. She’s so funny and she’s always been irreverent in that way and honest in that way. And her fans love her for that. So she definitely gets away with it.
Looking forward politically, what issues are you focused on?
MAINES We’re obviously very busy this month trying to get everybody to vote and vote blue, especially in Texas. James Talarico, I think, is coming out to a show, and maybe Gina Hinojosa. Even though I haven’t lived in Texas in over 20 years, I’m very fired up.
STRAYER There’s not much to do in California. You have to work where you can. And you know, it’s “think global, but act local.” There’s only so many hours in a day, so we get a lot of asks to do a lot things, but for me, it’s all about Texas right now.
MAINES Because we have a chance.
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