What happened between Toby Keith and The Dixie Chicks? Feud explained amid country star's death at 62

Country musician Toby Keith succumbed to stomach cancer on Monday, February 5, in his Oklahoma home, at the age of 62. He announced his diagnosis in June 2022 and said he had been undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation, since fall 2021.

“Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time,” read the official statement from his family.

In the wake of Toby Keith’s demise, his feud with the country music band The Dixie Chicks has regained focus. The band’s lead singer, Natalie Maines, slammed Keith in 2002 for his song Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American), which was written in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks on U.S. soil.

Natalie Maines went on record to tell the Los Angeles Times that she hated the song’s lyrics, as they were “ignorant” and made overall “country music sound ignorant.”

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Exploring the beef between Toby Keith and The Dixie Chicks frontwoman

Toby Keith’s 2002 song Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American) was released following the September 11 attacks. Its lyrics addressed the enemies and mentioned the details of how the USA should retaliate.

“Man, we lit up your world like the Fourth of July… And you’ll be sorry that you messed with The U.S. of A./ ‘Cause we’ll put a boot in your *ss/ It’s the American way,” the lyrics read.

Immediately after its release in August 2002, The Dixie Chicks frontwoman Natalie Maines told the LA Times that she hated the song, as it was ignorant and made all country music sound ignorant.

“It targets an entire culture — and not just the bad people who did bad things. You’ve got to have some tact. Anybody can write, ‘We’ll put a boot in your *ss.’ But a lot of people agree with it. The kinds of songs I prefer on the subject are like Bruce Springsteen’s new songs,” Maines added.

A few months later, Keith responded via a CMT interview, saying Natalie was “not a songwriter" and dismissing her opinions.

Later, in March 2003, when the USA was on its way to war in Iraq, Natalie Maines told the London audience during one of The Dixie Chicks’ tours, “Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States [referring to then-President George W. Bush] is from Texas,” as reported by In Touch Weekly.

Her remarks earned severe heat alongside the prior dig at Toby Keith, following which the band’s music was banned across several radio stations across the USA, and Natalie and her bandmates received massive backlash for their alleged “unpatriotic” sentiments.

In the wake of this, Toby Keith showed edited pictures of Natalie Maine standing next to the then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein at his concerts, taking a dig at his former critic.

In May of that year, Natalie wore a t-shirt to the Academy of Country Music Awards that had the letters “F-U-T-K.” Initially, the band claimed that the text stood for “Friends United Together in Kindness.

However, later in her 2006 documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, Maines admitted that the acronym actually meant “F*ck You, Toby Keith,” as previously presumed by many, during their lengthy feud.

Instead of retaliating, Toby Keith, in August 2003, suggested a truce after Country Weekly’s cover showed his and Natalie’s feud, saying “Enough is enough.” He explained how his best friend, who founded his first band, lost a two-year-old daughter to cancer.

“A few days after I found she didn’t have long to live, I saw a picture on the cover of Country Weekly with a picture of me and Natalie and it said, ‘Fight to the Death’ or something. It seemed so insignificant,” Keith added to Country Music burying the hatchet.

The Beer for My Horses crooner also reminded how he was not the one who initiated the feud, but it was The Dixie Chicks who, he hinted, may have done it out of "jealousy" and attempted to tear him up. He further mentioned how he would never be like them and “bash another artist and their artistic license,” as things were not as straightforward and black and white as they often appear.

According to People, two months later, Keith told the media that he was both “embarrassed” and “disappointed” with himself for how he behaved in The Dixie Chicks feud.

He also mentioned how he was “pretty vicious” holding up Natalie and Hussein’s images together and confessed it was not funny in the long run, as he was “not that mean.”

According to The Guardian, Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American) was a hit song in its time, often considered an American patriotic anthem, and charted at the top until 2004.