R&B star Beyonce’s collaboration with the Dixie Chicks at Wednesday’s CMA Awards has stirred a lot of passions on social media by country-music fans, many of whom still aren’t “Ready to Make Nice” with the liberal-leaning country trio.
The Associated Press noted Thursday that “some were outraged Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks, who have been estranged from the country music world since their insult of then-President George W. Bush in 2003, even were allowed to perform” while others slammed Beyonce as “anti-police because she has addressed police brutality in her music videos.”
For their part, however, country artists themselves, particularly younger artists, seemed thrilled with the performance.
“[W]hen I found out the Dixie Chicks were going to perform, I freaked out,” said Maren Morris prior to the show, AP reported. “Because it’s been a decade since they have been on the stage. I just grew up listening to them and loving their point of view and how they don’t give a (expletive). And I just love them that about them,” said the 26-year-old native of Dallas, Texas, who went on to claim the New Artist of the Year Award.
“Can we talk about how the @dixiechicks slayed last night? As a fellow Texan, y’all bringing @Beyonce made my heart so happy. #idols,” Ms. Morris added on Twitter Thursday.
“[P]eople all mad bc Beyonce played the CMAs. and she isn’t country. Pretty much every country artist I know went to her show in Nashville,” syndicated country-music D.J. Bobby Bones observed in a tweet Friday morning.
Of course, country music artists themselves are often fans of diverse genres of music. Indeed, as NPR music critic Jewely Hight observed Friday, ”[i]nteraction with other forms of popular music — as opposed to isolation from them — is a source of pride, not to mention one among many drivers of stylistic evolution, in the mainstream country world.”
“Crossover impact has been one of the great achievements of the award show’s penultimate honoree, Dolly Parton, who was feted with a medley of hits, like ’Here You Come Again’ and ’9 to 5,’ that landed her on the pop charts and a standard, ’I Will Always Love You,’ that’s had a second life in reinterpretations by pop superstars of color, Beyoncé included,” Ms. Hight said.
“It’s worth noting too that two of the five singers paying tribute to Parton, Reba McEntire and Jennifer Nettles, have also dipped into Beyoncé’s catalog on occasion.”
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