The Chicks — the band formerly known as the Dixie Chicks — revealed in a new interview with NBC’s “Today” that they felt “uneasy” before they changed their name.
On Friday, the Chicks appeared on “Today” to talk about their new album and their new band name.
Band member Martie Maguire said the band felt “uneasy” before the name change, specifically about keeping the name “Dixie” as a part of their name.
But with “the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, we thought ‘How can we not?’” she said.
The band announced at the end of June that it would change its name, as I wrote about for Deseret.com. The band announced the change since the term Dixie is a reference to the South and Southern culture. In fact, the term derives from the Mason-Dixon line, which was used to represent the border between Northern and Southern states.
Just this week, Utah’s Intermountain Healthcare decided to drop Dixie from its southern Utah medical center name over similar reasons, according to the Deseret News.
“The original name was chosen 68 years ago to promote a feeling of community,” said Dixie Regional Medical Center Administrator Mitch Cloward. “Intermountain is committed to creating places of healing, which includes ensuring an environment where everyone feels safe and welcome. This new name positions us to do that well into the future.”