Furor over country band echoes a nation's cultural discord

WASHINGTON -- The saga of the Dixie Chicks -- alienated from their country-music fans by virtue of politics and attitude -- unfolds like a very funny spoof of the red state/blue state divide.

But it's not just about entertainment. It's yet another example of how the cultural glue that holds together the United States is weakening -- and how cultural identity has become entwined with political values.

To recap: The lead singer of the top-selling country act of recent years criticized President Bush on stage in London at the start of the Iraq war. Many other performers were denouncing Bush at the same time, but the milder attack by Natalie Maines (``Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas") was felt as the deepest blow because the Dixie Chicks were a country act, and country music is supposed to be conservative.

The upshot was that the United States is so polarized along entertainment lines that much of Hollywood and the rock world can criticize a Republican president and it's just par for the course; they're expected to be liberals. But a country act can't step over that line without a furor.

The absurdity of this double standard might eventually have occurred to country fans had not Maines and the Chicks chosen to jump whole-hogged onto the liberal bandwagon, posing for ACLU ads and sparring with right-wing critics. Even more dramatically, they cut their hair and recorded a new single called ``Not Ready To Make Nice." They named their new tour ``Accidents and Accusations."

Country fans haven't accepted this makeover as a Madonna-like reinvention or a wry comment on the perils of notoriety. Instead, country fans have decided the Chicks no longer respect rural people or country-music values. Now, Dixie Chicks songs have been banned on some country stations, and ticket sales are reportedly way off in Southern cities.

But they're selling like hot chowder north of the Mason-Dixon line and overseas, scrambling to add tour dates in Canada, Australia, and in such Springsteen strongholds as Atlantic City, N.J.

Pretty soon, they'll be the Yankee Chicks, and taste in popular music will fall along the same lines as support for the war or abortion rights. And sections of the country that don't share each other's political views won't be able to enjoy the same tunes.

It's been many decades since Americans gathered around pianos and sang Stephen Foster songs. There are no current tunes that are destined to be known by everyone, like the old sheet-music standard ``Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

The nation that nursed its wounds during World War II by listening to the Andrews Sisters and big bands doesn't exist anymore.

The so-called Great American Songbook -- Broadway and movie tunes by composers such as Rodgers, Kern, and Berlin -- was closed decades ago, and now gets played mostly in New York.

In its place is a music culture that's vibrant and rich with diversity -- from hard rock to country to blues to salsa to gospel to adult-contemporary -- and voluminous enough to fill dozens of separate charts in Billboard magazine.

But it's not a unifying culture. The song currently at the top of the Hot 100, ``Hips Don't Lie," by Shakira and featuring Wyclef Jean, spans two genres -- Latin pop and hip hop -- but is unlikely to be known by listeners outside those genres.

There is nothing inherently dangerous in such fragmentation until politics becomes involved; and in a political culture in which voting is often based on identity -- race, religion, class, sexual orientation, region of the country -- music becomes another point of separation.

Earlier this month, the conservative National Review struck a humorous blow for unity by naming the top 50 conservative rock songs.

``On first glance rock 'n' roll music isn't very conservative," conceded writer John J. Miller. `` . . . But some rock songs really are conservative and there are more than you might think."

Indeed, some of the songs reflected cherished conservative positions such as the right to bear arms (Aerosmith's ``Janie's Got a Gun") or the importance of military strength (``Rock the Casbah" by The Clash) or small government (The Beatles' ``Taxman"). Others merely reflected conservative attitudes, like Miller's top pick , ``Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who.

``In several cases, the musicians are outspoken liberals. Others are notorious libertines," wrote Miller. ``For the purposes of this list, however, we don't hold any of this against them."

It's a sentiment that could be taken to heart by the Dixie Chicks and their country-music fans.

Peter S. Canellos is the Globe's Washington bureau chief. National Perspective is his weekly analysis of events in the capital and beyond.