The Dixie Chicks were an American country music band that achieved commercial success in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group was founded in 1989 by sisters Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, who are nieces of musician Eric Clapton, and lead singer Natalie Maines. The name of the band was taken from the song Dixie Chicken by Lowell George of Little Feat.
In March 2003, during a concert in London, England, Maines made a comment about then-U.S. President George W. Bush: Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas. Afterward, backlash against Maines and the Dixie Chicks was swift and intense; radio stations across America banned their music, fans sent them death threats, and they were blacklisted by country music publications. In spite of all this negative attention (or perhaps because of it), their album Sales soared both inside and outside the U.S., making them one of the few artists to experience such success after openly criticizing a sitting president.