It’s clear that the Grammy voters decided to reward the Dixie Chicks a prize for their antiwar stance. They can gloat all they want but their song only made it to No. 36 on the charts. And if I were them, I wouldn’t see their awards as a vindication (as the writer of this article seems to do):

Country radio may not be ready to embrace them again, but the Grammy runaway suggests that a significant portion of the rest of the country has come around to their way of thinking. The president’s approval ratings are down, and his party was ousted in the midterm elections.

But the public doesn’t vote for the award:

To become a voting member of the association an individual must be a music industry professional with creative or technical credits on six commercially released tracks (or their equivalent). These may include vocalists, conductors, songwriters, composers, engineers, producers, instrumentalists, arrangers, art directors, album notes writers, narrators and music video artists and technicians.

Too bad the Grammy voters represent such a small market and it’s also too bad their real customers (the country music market) are still ticked at them:

“Most country stations aren’t playing the Chicks, and they aren’t going to start now,” said Jim Jacobs, owner of WTDR-FM, a country radio station in Talladega, Ala.