Earlier this in July 2020, country band Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A and The Dixie Chicks have followed suit by dropping the word “Dixie” from their band name. Now going by ‘The Chicks’ the band is saying that they’ve wanted to make this move for a long, long time.
In an interview with The New York Times, The Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines made the point,
“We wanted to change it years and years and years ago. I just wanted to separate myself from people that wave that Dixie flag.”
According to the Paper, the band named and styled themselves after the 1973 album and song “Dixie Chicken” by Little Feet, a Los Angeles rock band that, like the Dixie Chicks, would eventually become famous for doing, melded bluegrass, country and rock.
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The word “Dixie” can refer to the south in general, but it’s technically a term for the 11 states south of the Mason-Dixon Line. This eventually became the demarcation line for legal slavery at the time of the Civil War and those 11 states made up the Confederacy.
The changing of their name comes at a pivotal time for the group. On July 17, 2020, The Chicks released Gaslighter, their first studio album in 14 years.
Listen to the title track to their album below.