The Dixie Chicks have dropped the Dixie in their social media pages, when on Thursday morning, their official Twitter handle changed from @dixiechicks to @thechicks.
Band members Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire, who have been among the most outspoken figures in the conservative world of country music — made little immediate comment. Without any fanfare, a brief statement on their new website, simply states: “We want to meet this moment.”
The name change comes ahead of the release of the group’s first album in 14 years, “Gaslighter,” due out on July 17, but advanced vinyl copies of “Gaslighter,” have already been put on sale under the old name.
In addition to the band’s social media pages and website now referring to the trio as the “The Chicks” they also dropped a new music video for “March March,” which features demonstrations through history marching for civil rights.
The pressure to drop Dixie from their name came as corporate brands became more sensitive to problematic logos and from commentary in the news media pushing the group to drop the Dixie as the country debates issues like removing Confederate monuments.
In a recent opinion article in Variety, journalist Jeremy Helligar questioned the country trio’s band name saying that the term Dixie “conjures a time and a place of bondage.”
The name change comes two weeks after Lady Antebellum, announced that they would just be known as “Lady A,” due to “associations that weigh down this word referring to the period of history before the Civil War, which includes slavery.”
