If you buy only one rekkid this week…

…make it Taking the Long Way by The Dixie Chicks.

Not because it is a good record (although it is).

Not even because the girls are fine musicians (although they certainly are).

Buy it as a political statement because, frankly, if Not Ready to Make Nice were the only decent track on it, the album would be worth the money for that alone.

Lead singer Natalie Maines had the brass-bound audacity to express an opinion, in this case that she was embarrassed that George Bush came from her home state.

Large corporately-owned radio stations banned their music and ordered up Dixie Chicks CD crushing events (and then there where the death threats from those who think “freedom of speech” means “agree with me or else”).

The Chicks response? A “Why can’t we all get along” whine? Nope. And “Oh woe is me” moan? Nope.

Probably the best song of 2006. “Shut up and sing” indeed. It’s worth looking at the song video for its combination of images of insanity and tarring-and-feather as well.

And also, for those with little’uns, Lullaby is a rather wonderful example fo the eponymous genre.