From deep in the heart of Texas........I think the Chicks will have the last laugh. Afterall, they are sold out here and in other blue states where all the money is:
""It's on our national best selling list," said Paul Bloyd, community relations manager for Barnes & Noble in Beaumont.
In its first week, "Taking the Long Way" sold about 526,000 copies.
Wade Jessen, director of country charts for Billboard, said it's rare for a country album to sell well without being radio hit-driven. He believes media coverage (including a Time Magazine cover story) is responsible for the Dixie Chicks' success on the charts.
"It's possible and very plausible that lack of heavy airplay is also helping sales," he said in a telephone interview."
Dixie Chicks snubbed and embraced here, elsewhere
By ROBERT LOPEZ, The Enterprise
06/13/2006
The Dixie Chicks, from left, Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison are photographed at Sony Studios in New York, May 18, 2006. Despite a cool reception from country radio, they returned to No. 1 on the pop and country charts with their first album since publicly criticizing the president three years ago.The new album hit stores May 23.
AP Photo/Jim Cooper
While the Dixie Chicks' latest album, "Taking the Long Way," ranks at the top of the Billboard music charts, on the Southeast Texas radio dial, the trio is nary to be heard.
Only one of the area's three country stations, the independently owned KOGT in Orange, is spinning the group. The other broadcasters are continuing a boycott that began in 2003, when singer Natalie Maines told a concert audience in England, in comments about Iraq, that she was ashamed President Bush was from Texas.
"We do what listeners want," said Jay Bernard, programming director at the Cumulus owned KAYD, which is not playing the album. "And because of what they (the Dixie Chicks) have said in the past, listeners still don't want to hear them," he said of the Beaumont station's faithful.
Bernard said the decision is a local, not a corporate, one. Likewise, Clear Channel, owner of the Beaumont-based KYKR, which is not playing the Dixie Chicks, also leaves the playlist to local managers. Around the United States, a number of country stations have chosen to continue the boycott.
In Woodville, Tracy Authement, general manager at KWUD, which is not playing the album, said fans remain angry, not because "they said something about George W. Bush, but because they went to another country and aired our dirty laundry."
"We still get a lot of calls (against the group)," she said.
The band also has been suffering from poor ticket sales for their U.S. tour, which kicks off July 21 in Detroit. A Los Angeles Times story last week reported that sales in four cities, including Houston, had been temporarily stopped. (The Houston show is still listed on the group's Web site for Sept. 30 at the Toyota Center).
And Pollstar, a concert industry magazine, reported that gigs in Memphis, Tenn.; Fresno, Calif.; Indianapolis and Oklahoma City have been canceled, according to a Reuters report. The Dixie Chicks' Web site denies any cancellations.
Ray Waddell, who covers the concert industry for Billboard, said in the Times story that sales have been better in "the blue-state areas and in Canada" than in the South and Midwest.
Despite hostility from some country fans, "Taking the Long Way" has received mainly positive reviews and has been selling well at local music stores.
"It's on our national best selling list," said Paul Bloyd, community relations manager for Barnes & Noble in Beaumont.
In its first week, "Taking the Long Way" sold about 526,000 copies.
Wade Jessen, director of country charts for Billboard, said it's rare for a country album to sell well without being radio hit-driven. He believes media coverage (including a Time Magazine cover story) is responsible for the Dixie Chicks' success on the charts.
"It's possible and very plausible that lack of heavy airplay is also helping sales," he said in a telephone interview.
The first single off the new album is called "Not Ready to Make Nice" and responds to the uproar.
rlopez@beaumontenterprise.com
(409) 880-0790
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