The Dixie Chicks are Nashville refugees for reasons of politics and personality -- after stinging comments about President Bush, country radio banned them and country fans shunned them -- but on Sunday the trio found blue-state redemption at the 49th annual Grammy Awards with five awards, including song, record and album of the year.
Intense R&B singer Mary J. Blige and the rock veterans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers were among the other notable winners, but by the end, the show belonged to the Chicks, who became the first act in 13 years to sweep all three prestigious categories.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday February 15, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 65 words Type of Material: Correction
Rick Rubin: An article in Sunday's Calendar section about record producer Rick Rubin said he had been nominated for the Grammy Award as producer of the year five times. An article about the Grammy Awards on the front page of Monday's A Section said he had been nominated six times. In fact, Rubin has been nominated four times and won once, at the awards Sunday.
The avalanche of honors at Staples Center in Los Angeles came just three months after the Chicks and their defiant album "Taking the Long Way" were snubbed at the Country Music Assn. Awards, creating a divide that turned into something resembling a pop-culture election.
"I think people are using their freedom of speech tonight with all these awards," said Natalie Maines, the lead singer of the Texas-bred band and a firebrand figure for much of America.
It was Maines who in 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, told a London concert crowd: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." That led to radio bans, CD burnings, death threats and the Nashville career collapse for a group that had been among country music's most bankable acts.
Maines, a lifelong Texan, moved to an L.A. beach house and her music partners, sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, joined her in California to record "Taking the Long Way" with rock producer Rick Rubin and rock session musicians.
There was also "Shut Up and Sing," a documentary film that gave the back-stage story of the public furor, enraging critics even more. The group, which began as a bluegrass outfit, had surrendered much of its musical identity, but songs such as "Lubbock or Leave It" signaled that the musicians were not in ideological retreat.
Maines joked Sunday night that Middle America might not be happy with the Chicks' romp, which came from the votes of the Recording Academy, which is centered in the industry hubs of Los Angeles and New York.
"A lot of people just turned their TVs off right now," the newly dark-haired Maines said with a laugh. "I'm very sorry about that."
