21. DIXIE CHICKS
Natalie Maines effectively destroyed the Dixie Chicks’ relationship with country music fans in 2003 when she told a London concert crowd that she was “ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas,” referring to George W. Bush. At the time, the Chicks were one of the genre’s top-selling acts, with album sales well past 20 million and continuous play on country radio. Her fleeting statement seems downright tame in today’s environment. But more importantly, it freed up the Chicks, who started in Dallas with a different lineup, from the confines of a claustrophobic genre. Gone were the sunny harmonies of 1998 breakout “Wide Open Spaces.” The subsequent album, 2006’s “Taking the Long Way,” played like a kiss-off to the genre that once welcomed them so warmly. Every young country singer or group owes them a debt.
Most Texas musical moment: The Chicks teamed up with Beyoncé for a sublime performance of “Daddy Lessons” that, in a signature Texas move, entranced fans and enraged middle America.