Dixie Chicks Drop The Dixie

The Dixie Chicks have changed their to just The Chicks. “We want to meet this moment,” reads a message signed by members Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Strayer.

The name change follows a similar shift by country music colleagues Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum) who dropped Antebellum because of its association with the slavery-era in U.S. history.

As part of the re-branding, The Chicks have already moved to a new website at thechicks.com and updated their social media footprint.

Along with the new branding, the group also debuted a new single “March March” with a music video that shows footage of both historical and recent protests.

Originally formed in 1989 as a four-piece bluegrass and country music group, the Dixie Chicks found success in 1998 with their fourth studio album “Wide Open Spaces.”

They courted political controversy in 2003 when they told a London audience in the leadup to the invasion of Iraq that they were “ashamed” that President George W. Bush was from Texas.

The critical comment did not go over well with the group’s fans in heartland America and they quickly found themselves dropped from rotation on country music stations across the U.S.

However, they returned in 2006 with another #1 country album “Taking the Long Way.”