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The Dixie Chicks Return

T

TheBigA

So the Dixie Chicks are back with their first new music in 14 years. Apparently some country radio stations are playing the new song called "Gaslighter." That's great, except for this story in Rolling Stone:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/dixie-chicks-gaslighter-song-country-radio-962602/

This is fake news. Country radio NEVER banned the Dixie Chicks. To say they've been "unwelcome at country radio for 17 years" is absolutely false. The Dixie Chicks left country radio on their own and went pop in 2001. This came after their lawsuit against their record label, and their shift to Sony's pop division.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dixie-chicks-sue-sony-236628/

Then in 2003, the Dixie Chicks had their run-in over their comment about George W. Bush. Yes, some country stations in southern areas responded to angry listeners demanding they stop playing Dixie Chicks music. Then a few years later, they returned with a Grammy-winning song called "Not Ready To Make Nice." Even though the song bashed country radio, it received country radio airplay. And in the years afterwards, the Dixie Chicks received lots of airplay from classic country stations. With the rise of interest in 90s country, lots of radio stations have been playing songs from the first two Dixie Chicks records. So it's no surprise that some stations are interested in this new music.
 
TheBigA said:
So the Dixie Chicks are back with their first new music in 17 years. Apparently some country radio stations are playing the new song called "Gaslighter." That's great, except for this story in Rolling Stone:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/dixie-chicks-gaslighter-song-country-radio-962602/

This is fake news. Country radio NEVER banned the Dixie Chicks. To say they've been "unwelcome at country radio for 17 years" is absolutely false. The Dixie Chicks left country radio on their own and went pop in 2001. This came after their lawsuit against their record label, and their shift to Sony's pop division.
Click to expand...

Didn't stations, though, stop playing Chicks' recurrent and gold after the London remarks?
 
CTListener said:
Didn't stations, though, stop playing Chicks' recurrent and gold after the London remarks?
Click to expand...

As I said in my post, SOME stations, primarily southern stations in areas with military bases. But a lot of stations played "Not Ready To Make Nice." The song peaked in the mid-30s, even though it received no radio promotion from Columbia, and the band did no interviews with country radio.

This new song is also being released on Columbia, but AFAIK, it's not being promoted by Columbia Nashville. The band likes to perpetuate this mythology that they're victims. But that's not true.
 
If only the SheDaisy girls could have been the three girl act to return. To me, they were one to listen to.

God bless you and them always!!!

Holly
 
The Rolling Stone article I linked earlier said this:

The Dixie Chicks are signed to Columbia, but perhaps because mainstream Nashville is still unsure as to how to treat them, programmers say promotion of “Gaslighter” was outsourced to an independent company, In2une, which declined to comment.
Click to expand...

The reason why promotion has been outsourced goes back to the record deal the Chicks have. After their lawsuit, their record deal shifted from Columbia Nashville to the New York office. They don't have relationships with country radio, so they hired an outside company to handle promotion for them. Perhaps at some point, a promotion deal can be worked out within Columbia Nashville. But for now, it's probably best handled this way since the artists themselves are more interested in airplay on AAA and Americana non-commercial stations rather that hot country radio. You're more likely to hear them interviewed on NPR or Chris Thiele's weekend show than your local country radio station.
 
Looking at Mediabase after one week, I see 38 stations playing Gaslighter, including WFUS Tampa. Tampa was a military market that dropped all Dixie Chicks songs in 2003. From what I can see, these stations are playing the song on average 11 times a week, mostly in afternoons and evenings. But a group of stations are also playing it in mornings and middays. It's not a breakout hit, but some stations are trying it out, giving it a fair chance.
 
Dixie Chicks are washed up but not for any of the reasons cited above. Both country radio and the recording industry are SCARED TO DEATH that country music might lose its youth appeal. The target audience is the all important teen market. The three members of the group are between the ages of 45 and 50. That fact alone will preclude much airplay. Plus "Gaslighter" is nothing special and nothing approaching what the Chicks came up with over twenty years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make it to number 50 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart.
 
CAVEMANager said:
Both country radio and the recording industry are SCARED TO DEATH that country music might lose its youth appeal. The target audience is the all important teen market.
Click to expand...

That is not true for country.
 
CAVEMANager said:
Both country radio and the recording industry are SCARED TO DEATH that country music might lose its youth appeal.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about that. Garth Brooks just had a Top 5 song, and he's 56. Big Machine just signed a 52 year old Tim McGraw. Kenny Chesney, who is the same age as McGraw, is back in the chart with a new song. The sweet spot in country is 38-42. Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, and Jason Aldean. Yes teens are very active in country music. But they're not the target audience.

The problem with this Dixie Chicks song is the fact that they've been gone so long. Plus once they got past their first few albums, the music became less commercial. The purpose of this new song isn't as much to become a hit song on the radio as it is to let their fans know they're back and promote the new tour. Touring is where the money is made in country music. They say they'll launch an arena tour this summer. They may be overestimating the size of their audience. But their model now is Brandy Carlile, not Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves instead of Kelsea Ballerini. There's a big young female audience that grew up on their music. So it may work for what they hope to accomplish.
 
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^^^ What makes Tim, Garth and Kenny different is their being male singers. Shania Twain wasn't even able to score another top ten song at least with what went to radio from her most recent album.

God bless you and her and the guys always!!!

Holly
 
James Otto Sweet Heart said:
What makes Tim, Garth and Kenny different is their being male singers.
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Not true. Trisha Yearwood had a Top 30 hit this year after taking 15 years off. The problem Shania had was her new music was very clearly not country. If she had come out with a tempo song in the style of what she did in the 90s, it might have been successful.
 
^^^ Trisha could've done worse, yes, but top 30 is not where she is known for being either.

God bless you and her always!!!

Holly
 
I just took a look at the new Mediabase chart for Gaslighter, and see that the station playing it the most is KUBL in Salt Lake City, owned by Cumulus. It's also getting spins (11 a week) at WKDF, the Cumulus station in Nashville. Also seeing a similar number of spins at Entercom's WDAF in Kansas City. So the song is getting some corporate radio airplay beyond iHeart. Its still only a total of 384 spins nationally, which isn't enough to chart in the Top 40 yet.
 
TheBigA said:
You might be surprised to know she only has 5 #1 songs, and her last one was in 1998. This was her highest charting song since 2001.
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Exactly, its been almost 20 years now since Trisha's last appearance in the top ten.

God bless you and her always!!!

Holly
 
Gaslighter debuted a week ago on Billboard's country airplay chart at number 36 which is amazingly good. This week the song has dropped to number 51 which is equally impressive. The only explanation I can think of is that the song was heavily promoted by Columbia and many stations added it immediately. A week later the stations either decided that the song wasn't all that good or maybe listeners complained. The song is going up slowly on the Hot Country chart but it's important to understand that this chart is based on downloads which might be done by people who don't even like country music. Meanwhile Pam Tillis has a new release which I predict will do very poorly. She too is getting old and country radio is scared of the elderly.
 
CAVEMANager said:
Gaslighter debuted a week ago on Billboard's country airplay chart at number 36 which is amazingly good. This week the song has dropped to number 51 which is equally impressive. The only explanation I can think of is that the song was heavily promoted by Columbia and many stations added it immediately. A week later the stations either decided that the song wasn't all that good or maybe listeners complained. The song is going up slowly on the Hot Country chart but it's important to understand that this chart is based on downloads which might be done by people who don't even like country music. Meanwhile Pam Tillis has a new release which I predict will do very poorly. She too is getting old and country radio is scared of the elderly.
Click to expand...

Tillis, 62, was one of the many artists who debuted during the New Traditionalist years (1988-93, roughly) who suddenly fell off radio's radar in the late '90s. Pam -- who didn't have her first hit until 1990, when she was already 33 -- was a consistent top 20 (or better) presence right through 1997, which ended with the No. 5 hit "Land of the Living." 1998 began with "I Said a Prayer," which topped out at No. 12, and then off the radar she went. "Every Time": No. 38. "After a Kiss": No. 50. "Please": No. 22. Then oblivion, with nine straight non-charting singles. The weird thing is her albums kept selling. Her 2001 "Thunder & Roses" peaked at No. 24 with zero hits, the same peak as her 1998 "Every Time" and one position HIGHER than her 1995 "All of This Love"!

So what happened in 1997 that made her unpalatable at country radio the next year? She turned 40. Other than Reba McEntire, I'm hard pressed to come up with another female country artisy who remained a radio presence after the big four-oh. Reba was churning out hits until 2010, when she was 45.
 
CAVEMANager said:
The only explanation I can think of is that the song was heavily promoted by Columbia and many stations added it immediately.
Click to expand...

Columbia promotion isn't involved. The label hired indie promoters to work the song, They are still under contract with Columbia NYC (not Columbia Nashville), and the NY staff doesn't have relationships with country radio. The story I linked in the OP said that several major radio groups (iHeart, Cumulus, and Entercom) played the song for the first week. From what I could see on Mediabase, they played it in all day parts, not just overnight. So my take is the response wasn't strong enough to warrant increased spins.
 
Gaslighter by the Dixie Chicks continues to add stations and spins. Three more stations added the song today, including KUPL in Portland OR. The top spinning stations are in Kansas City and Salt Lake City. But even there, it may be two or three spins a day.
 
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