"Did you like them before Maines spewed her hatred before a foreign audience?"
Actually when the Dixie Chicks started, they were fabulous. I remember hearing them at a private birthday party at a club on Greenville Avenue (Dallas) in the late '80s. They had another lead singer - Laura Lynch - and they were dressed up like 1940's cowgirls. Between them all, they probably played 10 instruments. They were just overflowing with talent. Their first album had just come out "Thank Heavens for Dale Evans" and they were really amazing. They put out another album with Laura, but I don't remember the name (I still have it, but it's not where I can get to it easily. I'll dig it up if anyone is interested), then Martie and Emily dumped her for Natalie. I remember reading about it in the paper at the time because the group used to play Dallas venues and festivals. I thought at the time how shabby it was that they dumped Laura for someone "younger" (their words), but Laura was very gracious about it. I never read that she had said anything negative about them. Too bad they didn't stick with her - they got "younger" as well as "immature." Well, now they have their success - they're being played on KVIL. Anyone from Dallas knows the implications of this! Hope it was all worth it...
Living in Dallas, it was strange even for me to see how successful they were in there crossover from CW to AC/lite rock. They even played "Landslide" on KHKS 106.1 (the top 40/Urban Hits format) like every hour when it came out. They will never be on that station again only because that genre is basicallly over with. 106.1 plays only "ghetto crap" IMHO. I was still in high school when there first commercially successful albums came out, and they were all the rage at that time. They were a nice departure from Britany Spears and Christina Aguilara.