The Nature of Things

The Dixie Chicks were in town over the weekend for a concert. It was sold out. That was quite a change from a few years ago when the three Texas women were being excoriated, called every nasty name that some extremely nasty people could think of, as well as being threatened with rape, torture, and murder, all because they had committed the cardinal sin of speaking out against a president who was being revered by some as infallible. They famously told an audience where they were performing in London that they were embarrassed to be from the same state as that president. For that they were called traitors and much, much worse. They were boycotted by right-wingers, and radio stations that played country music refused to play their albums. Well, the Chicks persevered, as chicks have long done. They kept doing what they do, and in 2006 they came out with a new album, Taking the Long Way, that   featured   a song that pretty much summed up their feelings about the whole experience,...