The Dixie Chicks, who were shunned by the country music scene and had their lives threatened after making anti-Bush comments in 2003, won all five categories they were nominated in at the Grammy Awards. The Texas trio won best country album, which is ironic since they didn’t consider themselves country artists anymore, and song of the year for “Not Ready to Make Nice”. Upon accepting the album of the year award, lead singer Natalie Maines said, “I think people are using their freedom of speech with all these awards. We get the message.”

This is a huge comeback for a group which was boycotted by Nashville on the eve of the Iraq war and disappeared from country radio overnight. Like the November elections, their overwhelming acceptance and standing ovations at this year’s Grammy Awards illustrated the change in political climate regarding Bush and the war. Their producer on the album was the legendary Rick Rubin, who was honored as producer of the year.

Another unexpected Grammy Award winner was Jimmy Carter. The former US president was honored in the spoken-word category for his audio-book version of “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis.” Carter becomes the second former president to win a Grammy Award after Bill Clinton won spoken-word Grammys in 2004 and 2005. Mrs. Clinton also won in 1997, while she was first lady, as did fellow Democratic candidate Barack Obama in 2006 for his audio-book version of “Dreams From My Father”.

Carter was tied with actress Ruby Dee and her late husband Ossie Davis, a prominent actor and civil rights activist, for the award. The former president was unable to attend the cerimony. Other nominees for the award were fellow liberals, Bill Maher and Al Franken. With Carter and the Dixie Chicks being from The South, neocon pundits are going to have to be more creative in their dismissal of the Grammy’s than to simply attribute last night’s message to out-of-touch Hollywood Liberals.

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