Chicks’ Maines explains

Dixie Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines says she spoke against President Bush and war with Iraq last month out of frustration and regrets her choice of words, but she makes no apologies for thinking critically.

“I’m not truly embarrassed that, you know, President Bush is from my state, that’s not really what I care about,” Maines said in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer for “Primetime Thursday.” “It was the wrong wording with genuine emotion and questions and concern behind it.... Am I sorry that I asked questions and that I just don’t follow? No.”

At a March 10 concert in London, Maines told the audience in reference to Bush’s push for military action against Iraq: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.”

Maines and the Texas-based trio’s other members -- Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, who are sisters -- also told Sawyer that the fallout was too harsh for the offense. Their song “Travelin’ Soldier” was No. 1 on Billboard’s country charts around the time Maines made the remark but tumbled completely off afterward. And sales of the group’s latest CD, “Home,” plummeted, although they have since rebounded slightly, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales.

Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly released photos of its cover for next week, featuring the Dixie Chicks in the nude, with epithets such as “Traitors” written on their bodies. The group begins a U.S. tour May 1 in Greenville, S.C.