“Who are the Dixie Chicks, anyway? They should shut the fuck up.” This is but one of many like-minded observations by irate “fans” of the Texan trio after lead singer Natalie Maines made an off-the-cuff comment during a London concert in 2003. Non-fans like Bill O’Reilly go farther, saying they “deserve to be slapped around.” Maines’s infamous quote was both anti-Bush (“We’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas”) and delivered on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, a bad combination when your core audience is Southern rednecks. This rouser from Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA) and Cecilia Peck (Gregory’s Girl) follows the Chicks in the three years hence, as Maines, Martie Maguire, and Martie’s sister Emily Robison reinvent themselves, raise families, and rebuild their careers. Freedom of speech is alive, if not well, but it’s hard to fault a recent Maines quote regarding Dubya: “You’re a dumb fuck.”

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Shut Up & Sing's Web site: //www.myspace.com/shutupandsing

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