Natalie Maines: Not Sorry

By: Shannon Gossage

Maines caused quite a stir in 2003 when she announced during a concert, "Just so you know, we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." The comment led to death threats, the loss of some fans, and being banned by a lot of country radio stations. Just a few days after that Maines released a statement apologizing for being "disrespectful" and said, "I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect." Now, three years later, Maines says she regrets ever apologizing for her remarks. In a recent interview she said, "I apologized for disrespecting the office of the President. But I don’t feel that way anymore. I don’t feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."

The Chicks are back with their new album Taking the Long Way which is going to hit stores Tuesday. The first single off the CD’s titled "Not Ready to Make Nice" has been selling pretty well on iTunes but a lot of country music stations have ignored it. Band mate Martie Maguire said, "I guess if we really cared, we wouldn’t have released that single first. That was just making people mad. But I don’t think it was a mistake." Maines recently said, "If people are going to ask me to apologize on who I am, I don’t know what to do about that. I can’t change who I am."

The Dixie Chicks have been making music together since the mid 90’s and have sold upwards of 20 million albums. The "chicks" consist of Maines and Maguire and Maguire’s younger sister Emily Robison. Maines married actor Adrian Pasdar in 2000 and the couple has two sons – Jackson, 5, and Beckett, 22-months. Maguire has been married to hubby Gareth since 2001 and they have twin girls, Kathleen and Eva, who are two-years old. Robison and her husband of seven years have three children – Charles, 3, and 1-year old twins Henry and Julianna.