Natalie Maines this week relived the moment nearly four years ago when The Chicks (then known as the Dixie Chicks) sent country music fans into a tizzy by appearing with Beyoncé at the CMA Awards.
At the 2016 show in Nashville, Maines and bandmates Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer performed “Daddy Lessons,” a track from Bey’s acclaimed album Lemonade. The backlash on social media was swift, harsh – and largely racist.
Appearing on Howard Stern’s radio show on Monday, Maines claimed the CMA responded by taking footage of the performance offline.
“They start getting racist a**holes bombarding their website with comments and emails and whatever so they take her down. They take our performance down and caved to that bulls**t,” she said. "And then, I guess, they got so much bad press for doing that, within 24 hours they put it back up again.
“Just cowards. It’s just crazy. She just gave you your greatest ratings that you’ve ever gotten. How dare you take her song off! It was ridiculous.”
At the time, though, the CMA insisted they did no such thing. “CMA has not erased any mentions of Beyoncé’s performance on the CMA Awards,” read a statement. “Beyoncé’s performance with Dixie Chicks was a highlight of the evening and we are continuing to share the amazing full-length performance clip via our official social channels.”
Maines told Stern the collaboration was one she will never forget.
“The week we worked with Beyoncé is the single greatest working week of my professional life,” she gushed. “It was awesome. “To watch her world, to see how she does stuff. She’s a perfectionist. And to see the power she has as a female, and a Black female, is incredible.
“I was excited. I listened to Lemonade at least once a day. We listened to it every day on tour. She’s just the consummate professional.”