In 2003, The Dixie Chicks were the best-selling female artists on the planet. Then lead singer Natalie Maines concluded, publicly, that she was ashamed to hail from the same state as her President. The statement was warmly received by fans at their London concert, but US media was less forgiving. Within weeks, the band was vilified, sales tumbled, CD’s burned, radio airplay vanished and the chicks had become chumps. Meanwhile, Oscar-winning directors Kopple and Peck were filming a piece about the then soaring triumphs of country music’s favourite gals. Instead, they got grist for a fascinating documentary about media management, manipulation and the fragile thing that is freedom of speech.

At first the band believes the storm will blow over, then manager Simon Renshaw steps in to control the escalating fracas, and their declining fortune. The Chicks appear naked on the cover of Entertainment Weekly painted with calming slogans like ‘Saddam’s Angels’ and ‘Dixie Sluts’. It was intended as a piece of satire but in a country not known for a developed sense of irony, sales tumbled further and death threats became common place.

Shut Up and Sing is an stimulating opportunity to be a fly on the wall when the fan starts spinning. The directors mix timelines from 2003 forward and cut it with recording of a new album, but this somewhat confusing technique undermines the story’s naturally escalating tension. It is a minor off-chord in an otherwise absorbing film that has much to say about our polarising and increasingly intolerant societies. For as Renshaw discovered when facing the rabid dogs of government, freedom of speech is a cherished concept unless you actually try to say something.

Footnote: Delayed karma awarded The Dixie Chicks the 2007 Grammy for their Bush-inspired song Not Ready To Make Nice.

// COLIN FRASER