However, Martie has been the first one to admit that the Time quote came out wrong. She wasn’t attempting to dump on country fans. However, many country fans - in particular Matt C. and some others on this site - seem to really want to take it that way. Don’t hurt/insult/slight our precious country music!! Give me a break. The Chicks are still more country than most everything coming out of Nashville. Their 2006 tour included a bluegrass instrumental for goodness sake, and 7 songs from their album “Home.”

Don’t dump on “Taking the Long Way” because it isn’t as country as you would have liked or not to your country tastes. It is an amazing album and deserved all of its Grammy awards. Maybe the awards weren’t about “Nashville,” despite Nashville’s desire to play the “victim” in this saga.

You forget that country fans come in all shapes, sizes and varieties, with different tastes. Some of us can get a HUGE kick out of Johnny Cash’s middle finger salute to Nashville and still love country music.

As far as the grammy’s, I continue to be amazed at some of the albums that get the big noms. The Foo Fighters for example are nominated for all of the top categories, yet by many reviews released their 3rd or 4th best cd while garnering mainly so-so mixed reviews, as a Foo fan, I couldnt help but notice that there isnt anything particularly new or exciting on this most recent release. Each year we see snubs and we see albums get rewarded for peripheral issues such as “career excellence” or past snubs, or sociopolitical statements. I find myslef impressed with many of the “smaller”, more specific categories noms such as “alternative album” and the folk category. The voters there seem to have their fingers on the pulse, yet seemingly lose that touch when it comes to the bigger awards.

The quote also is to interpret. Who exactly is the fan that “ha[s] us in their five-disc changer with {Reba and Toby]” What does she mean? Is she bashing fans who like Reba and Toby too? Fans who like what is popular? Exactly what kind of fan is this? Why are these people so undesirable to have as fans?

Perhaps appealing to these fans does “limit what you can do,” , but ihaving a smaller fan base of “people who get it” will also “limit what you can do.” Playing larger arenas may limit what you can do but so does playing in bars or small venues. What kind of limits is Martie concerned with?

Moreover why is this “five disc changer” fan someone other than a “really cool [person] who get(s) it?” The comment seems to imply that these people are mutually exclusive, and why is that? Is this a false dichotomy? And do all fans fall within one of these two categories?

Martie didn’t articulate her thoughts very clearly, and the comment can be interpreted in several ways, many of which are insulting to certain country fans.

I had to laugh a little, though. I just got back from Tampa and in my changer were old Reba (on Mercury) and Toby Keith CDs as well as Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie and John Fogarty CDs. If that isn’t good enough company for the Chix, they can just kiss my ***

I do happen to think “Taking the Long Way” was indeed the best album of last year, no matter what category people tried to put it in, so I was happy they won so many awards for that reason alone.

That’s a willful misinterpretation of Martie’s quote that I’ve seen once too often. What she clearly meant was that the group wants to make music that attracts passionate interest rather than the passive interest that most mainstream country fans have in whatever happens to be on the radio at the moment.

What the hell, here’s the whole quote. You be the judge:

“I’d rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it … who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don’t want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do.”