Vindication Nation: The Dixie Chicks

It turns out that rumors of the death of the Dixie Chicks' new album -- if not their careers -- were premature.

As noted in a May 23 post, Thinking, Not Merely Singing, the first two singles off of "The Long Way Out," an album with several unabashedly anti-Bush administration songs, were not doing well, and some country and western stations and right-wing talk radio jingoists had called for a new boycott against the Chicks. The original boycott was in 2003 when lead signer Natalie Maines made a deprecating remark about President Bush from a London stage. Death threats followed.

The kerfuffle went prime time when Tom Brokaw raised the issue in an ABC News interview with the president, asking if he would invite the Chicks to the White House. Bush did not give a yes or no answer, but said:

"I mean, the Dixie Chicks are free to speak their mind. They can say what they want to say. And just because -- they shouldn't have their feelings hurt just because some people don't want to buy their records when they speak out. You know, freedom is a two-way street."

Fellow Chicks Emily Robison and Martie Maguire have backed Maines, although they did admit in a "60 Minutes" interview that during one concert they stood a little farther away from her than usual because of a threat that she would be shot dead.

So how's the boycott going?

"The Long Way Out" opened at No. 1 on the Billboard charts with 525,829 copies sold in the first week.

Take that, Nashville assholes.