Pheaturing The Chicks

 

Hey there, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Monday. ICYMI Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil. His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania. Biden, 77, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. The strategy proved effective, resulting in pivotal victories in Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Pennsylvania, onetime Democratic bastions that had flipped to Trump in 2016. Biden was on track to win the national popular vote by more than 4 million, a margin that could grow as ballots continue to be counted. Trump seized on delays in processing the vote in some states to falsely allege voter fraud and argue that his rival was trying to seize power... an extraordinary charge by a sitting president trying to sow doubt about a bedrock democratic process. As the vote count played out, Biden tried to ease tensions and project an image of presidential leadership, hitting notes of unity that were seemingly aimed at cooling the temperature of a heated, divided nation. “We have to remember the purpose of our politics isn’t total unrelenting, unending warfare,” Biden said Friday night in Delaware. “No, the purpose of our politics, the work of our nation, isn’t to fan the flames of conflict, but to solve problems, to guarantee justice, to give everybody a fair shot.” 

This past Halloween a trick or treater stole a whole lot of treats and then left one nasty little trick for the homeowner, whose front door camera recorded the entire theft. Credit to this trick or treating kid for being so damn brazen. This is obviously not the best Halloween prank I’ve ever seen... you can barely even call it a prank... but dammit if it isn’t funny. The kid walks right up to the door without even having bothered to dress up in a Halloween costume, unzips his backpack, dumps an entire bowl of Halloween candy into it, and then for good measure flips off the camera and leaves. Probably the most redeeming thing about this video is that the kids balls clearly hadn’t dropped so when he stands there saying, “Hmm let’s see” it’s still adorable and squeaky before he shoots his tiny little boy finger up at the camera. 

Aww, such an adorable little douche bag. Maybe that was what he was dressing up as? For what it’s worth I would have 100% have done this myself as a kid. Really these homeowners are lucky this kid didn’t take a crap in their jack-o’-lantern or something. But otherwise, Halloween is Halloween. Being surprised by this would be like being surprised by someone vomiting and then kissing you at midnight ten minutes later on New Years. Or at a Halloween party for that matter. The point is, It’s not all sweet little kids out to trick or treat.   

A little boy playing outside with his dad and the family dog grew tired of finding sticks to throw to his pup so instead he picked up a real big snake. 

A toddler playing fetch with his dog had his dad rushing to his side in order to prevent his baby from getting riddled with snake bites after the kid decided to pick up a pretty big, black snake instead of just another ho hum stick. The boy, named Asher (which we learn when his dad screams “ASHER!” after he picks up the snake), was having a good old time until he picked up the snake. Actually, he was having a good time afterward too. It’s not clear he ever realized or cared that he was trying to throw a snake that looked to be longer than he was tall. Presumably, this dad wouldn’t be uploading this video to TikTok if Asher had been taken to the emergency room with a half dozen snake bites (although this is the United States so you never know) so don’t worry, we can all laugh about how this little kid picked up a snake and scared the crap out of his dad. Needless to say this kid is going to hear about this story forever. Every first time he brings a girlfriend home, every time he has friends over. “Did you hear about the time Asher tried to use a snake to play fetch. Let me show you the video.” Rightfully so, though. This is fantastic parent fodder. Again, mostly because at no point did this snake start biting and strangling the life out of the toddler. 

A Walmart employee had a resignation for the ages after she got on the loudspeaker and told off every last one of her most hated co-workers and managers before announcing that she quit. Shana Ragland is trending on TikTok, Twitter, and elsewhere on social media for her incredible resignation video from a Walmart in Lubbock, Texas after what she claims was nearly two years of enduring a toxic work environment. And this video does not mess around. She drags every single person who wronged her during her tenure. Garden Center perverts who say weird things to young girls, managers who were racist to black associates, the people in Cap 2 (whatever that is), some guy named Larry maybe, the people in Sporting Goods, her “prick of a manager," other racist coworkers, someone she believes is a stinky prick, and pretty much everyone else who made her Walmart job miserable. Just in case you think this TikTok video was staged, as some Twitter users suggested, it’s not. Another person recorded Ragland’s PA system rant from inside the store. And again, this is pretty fantastic. Reminiscent of the scene from Half Baked where one of the characters gets on the mic and tells all the customers and workers off (except one guy who was cool) before quitting. Classic. Honestly if you don’t like the job... or, more accurately, it’s terrible... and you don’t need a reference why the hell not go a little scorched earth on the place. If what Ragland was saying is true it’s hard to blame her for getting a little spicy before peacing out. 

Listen, I think we’re at the point of 2020 when we need to understand when to stop. Don’t get me wrong, you do what you need to do to get your voice out there, but we should never resort to violence or insults. But, there are people out there that don’t really understand or care about others, and they just worry about themselves. Like this woman, who decided to go the extra mile and literally spit on someone’s face. This is just ridiculous. One, you never know if this woman has some sort of disease, and two, this is just plain disrespectful to do to anyone. Basically, a woman was charged with spitting in the NYPD sergeant’s face during a wild election protest that happened in Manhattan. Twenty-four-year-old Devina Singh was caught on video, without a mask mind you, and yelling at the sergeant “Fuck you, fascist!” before spitting on the cop’s face. The police officer quickly goes in to grab her by the waist to arrest her as she is seen trying to fight him off and several members of the police department gather around. The video quickly went viral on social media late Wednesday. So, the woman who lives in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, violation of local law, and harassment. I’m pretty shocked they didn’t book her on disorderly conduct as well. Now, I’ll repeat myself, this to me just seems so disrespectful, I don’t care if you’re a civilian or if you’re a cop, do not spit on someone else’s face. This just goes to show what kind of person you are. Apparently, Singh and her friends were among the mob of left-wing, anti-cop protesters who clashed with NYPD officers in West Village, yelled at them, and set garbages on fire. New York police and other law enforcement officers arrested 60 people in total. Before that, several hundred gathered for mostly peaceful post-election day demonstrations located in Washington Square Park chanting, “count every vote.” This protest was in response to President Trump’s outrage over the presidential election process, and all the allegations of voting. Singh also received charges of resisting arrest during a protest in Brooklyn last month. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio stated during his coronavirus pandemic press that this is not the first time New York City has seen several outsiders coming into the city during these protests, including during the protest in NYC against police brutality in the summer. However, the mayor did go on to say that the number of demonstrators taking to New York streets overall it’s less than what was originally anticipated, and have been peaceful protests. He noted, “I think we can safely say that the vast majority of people simply want to see the election results counted fairly. They want to know the result as soon as possible and then we are all in a position to then move forward. What the majority of New Yorkers want is just a peaceful approach to this election dynamic and the ability to move forward and move on.” Other tense moments between people (both Trump supporters and Joe Biden supporters) and police officers took place block North of Washington Square Park. Police decided to set up bicycle blockage to stop widespread violence from agitators from marching on 5th Avenue near East 8th Street and instead guided them on the sidewalk. Despite their efforts, some protesters pushed through, which resulted in confrontation and then eventually rest.

Instead of doing this blog thing I should be listening to this album...

Ummm... never mind. So, if you're wondering what Trump is doing now here is the latest pic...

Hahahaha. I was thinking, if I had a TARDIS I would like to go to the White House but knowing my luck I'll end up there during renovations in 1950. 

Hahaha. Did you see the new movie that is coming out in Europe this month? Here's a poster...

Of course you won't be able to see it in the theaters. So, this season some NFL teams are changing their logos, like the new one from the Steelers. 

I was thinking of getting a new tattoo but someone had the same idea I had...

Is that Tupac? I have no fucking idea. So, did you know salads are funny? Apparently this woman's one is...

What the hell? Okay, so, how the people you care about react to your triumphs is telling. But even more telling is how they respond to your tragedies. A 34-year-old man is dealing with his family’s reaction to a devastating event in his life. While he felt justified in his response, his family didn’t agree so he turned to the Phile. 

"Am I wrong for not visiting my sister when she named her newborn after my deceased son? This has been going on for some time. My wife and I lost our son when he was only 6 weeks old. It was devastating because this was our first baby together. My wife had multiple miscarriages and we prayed for this pregnancy to work and be healthy but all of that ended when his soul left in May 2020. Though we didn’t get to spend so much time with him we miss him dearly. My wife says he had my nose which she thought was cute. She talks about him in details like she still sees his face clearly. There are just so many emotions we’re dealing with but I try to keep myself busy with reading poems and talking to people with similar experiences. My family is in the picture. They visit all the time, but I’ve gone no contact with my sister because she was disrespectful of me and my wife and showed no support in the middle of our struggle. She kept saying that something was wrong with my wife. Made backhanded comments about how it was our fault and that we should get right with God and ask for forgiveness. She used the fact that my wife’s first miscarriage was deserved since she was pregnant before we got married. Then right after my son’s death while my sister was pregnant with her second child she told us she’d name her baby after our son this hurt my wife so much I told my sister no. As she clearly was just doing it out of spite but she got my parents involved saying she wanted to honor our son’s memory and ended up going no contact after I was put under a lot of pressure from my parents. She gave birth to her baby this past week. My parents were visiting and told us that I should work things out with my sister. Saying she meant well and that she named her son after ours to honor him my wife started crying and went inside the bedroom. I was so mad I told them my sister was just trying to do this out of spite but they told me that I was being bitter and ‘ungrateful’ and saw nothing wrong with having a replacement grandbaby. My wife is upset since my sister used our son’s name to honor him when she doesn’t even respect us. She never said sorry nor tried to fix the situation and is now using my son’s name to get back at me for cutting her out. The whole family are saying that I should visit her with my wife and act like we’re a happy family. They’ve been telling me that I’m starting to look bad and that I should fix my relationship with my sister soon. My mom didn’t stop insisting and is now talking to my wife who’s feeling uncomfortable with this whole situation.” I hate it when people do that. The whole lot of them deserve to get cut off and know exactly why they are getting cut off. Your parents are wrong for not even trying to talk her out of this spitefulness. Replacement grandbaby?!?! That’s sooo messed up. The moment you say it’s to honor after being told no is just to be spiteful. No other way about it. This is a situation where cutting both your sister and your parents off would absolutely be warranted. The sheer cruelty of it just about took my breath away. Anyone who ever. Ever. Ever. Says that a parent’s baby dying was ‘deserved’ can fuck right off this planet. I don’t care if the mother was literally [pure evil]. No excuse for saying something so incredibly vicious. You and your wife just lost your child. My heart aches for you. I’m so so sorry. Please do not let ANY of these people in your life right now. Please! For your sake and your wife’s. Take time for yourselves and grieve in peace. Maybe someday if you get sincere, heartfelt apologies… but until then, no. Cut them all off completely. His future relationship with his sister and his parents is unclear, but he can rest assured I feel his actions have been justified. If you have a problem you'd like me to help with or give my opinion then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com. 

If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, so, a friend has something to say about Biden winning the election. He's a singer, patriot and renaissance man. You know what time it is...

Let me be the first to say the following... congratulations to President Harris (good luck, lady, you’re gonna need it) run along now, Joe... you’ve outlived your usefulness as a political bookmark. Yes, you can have some hot cocoa now. To my Lefties... be careful what you wish for, you may have just received it. To my Righties... the other side began systematically attacking Trump the moment he announced he was running, let’s reciprocate by showing them how it’s really done. .Yeah, I’m pissed... but I have no intention of spending the next four years of my life throwing a temper tantrum over it (you know, like the Left just did) I refuse to stress out over something I have no control over. I will however, uncontrollably laugh myself into an aneurysm when shit goes sideways and you all realize how badly you just fucked up. Release the hounds! Let the endless investigations begin! As Robert Plant said, in "Kashmir" “all will be revealed..” Australia Or bust. Yes, I’m seriously considering leaving for Elizabeth Bay. You should all be proud of yourselves... you just helped elect a dementia addled, geriatric, loon whose achievements during a forty-seven year political career number ZERO. Don’t worry about me, I’ll just do for the next four years the same thing I did during both the Clinton and Obama years. I’ll thrive and survive. Think of it this way, we’ll have the next four years to sharpen our swords and prepare for the next fight. .Oh... and one more thing... NOT MY PRESIDENT.

A bachelor party is more appropriate after a divorce than before a wedding.

Fruit Loops

Pride Cheerios

Alex Trebek 

July 22nd, 1940 — November 8th, 2020 

I'll take "Incurable diseases" for $2000, Alex. 

Norm Crosby 

September 15th, 1927 — November 7th, 2020 

He was called "The Master of Malaprop," which is where you purposely use the wrong word in a sentence, making it hilarious. For example, saying "You could have knocked me over with a fender." I assume the word "hilarious" meant something different back in the 60's.

The 139th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...

Lenny will be on the Phile on Friday. Okay, let's take a live look at Port Jefferson, New York shall we?

Looks like a nice day there. Hard to believe we're 8 months into a pandemic that has killed over a million people and some people are still like "I won't wear a mask, because FREEDOM." And yet, we must believe it. Because COVIDiocy is an epidemic as widespread as the virus itself. "COVIDiots" are tough to reason with. Especially because their mere maskless existence could literally kill you if you try to talk to them IRL. So if you encounter one in the wild, the best and safest thing you can do is post about it. Internet-shaming may be our best tool against this particularly dangerous strain of human stupidity.

Wow! I wonder how this happened. 

Phact 1. Modern Japanese card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon were inspired by a much older card game from the Edo period which featured creatures from Japanese mythology. 

Phact 2. A Swiss dogsledder died of hypothermia in the Canadian arctic and was eaten by his dogs. All that was left of him was his head, guarded by the lead dog. 

Phact 3. The design of the tallest residential building in the world, 432 Park Avenue in Manhattan, is inspired by a trash can. 

Phact 4. Some mutated apples are half red and half green.

Phact 5. If you die homeless or with no money in New York City, you are buried by prisoners on Hart Island in a mass grave, up to 1000 per grave for children and 50 for adults, with the exception of Special Baby number 1, the first baby to die of AIDS.

This is cool! Today's pheatured guests are members of an American country band called the Chicks, whose latest album "Gaslighter" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile... Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer. 

Me: Hey, ladies, welcome to the Phile. I'm so excited that you're here. How are you? 

Martie: We are good, thank you. 

Me: So, Martie, why did you guys drop "Dixie" from the band name? 

Martie: We wanted to drop "Dixie" for a while. Its just been feeling a little bit uncomfortable just knowing what that word in the states conjures up for people and maybe it's hurtful to a group of people. 

Me: For those that don't know or don't get it, can you explain why that word "Dixie" is so bad? 

Martie: The term "Dixie" is a named used to refer to the Southern United States that seceded in 1860 and 1861 to form the Confederate States of America, among them South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as Missouri and Kentucky. The origin of the term is uncertain, but some believe came from the name Jeremiah Dixon, who was a surveyor of the Mason-Dixon line, which separated free states from those that allowed slavery. 

Natalie: Others say it stems from the word "Dix" which appeared on 10 dollar notes in Louisiana, in keeping with the state's French influence. The bills were known as "Dixies" by Southerners, and the French-speaking parts of Louisiana became Dixieland. 

Me: Then there's Dixie cups... okay, so why that name then, the Dixie Chicks? 

Martie: It wasn't intentional when we picked the name, we were basically children, teenagers, and we were the Dixie Chickens then shortened it to Chicks and got a lot of flack for being "chicks," but it was definitely time to drop the "Dixie." 

Me: Isn't there a band in New Zealand called the Chicks? How can both of your bands be called the Chicks? 

Natalie: It happens with lawyers talking to lawyers and lawyers talking to managers, so we have not spoken to them. But we were told that they were big fans, luckily, and that they were happy to coexist and to share that name. So hopefully next time we're in New Zealand, we will get to meet them. 

Me: That's cool. Emily, back then you were playing bluegrass music. What was the goal with the music at that point? 

Emily: In '89 it was pre-Natalie so at the time the goals for the band was number one, get off the street corner and get a gig, get a business card, little baby steps at that point. We were just happy to be playing and making money doing it. Martie got to quit college and once Natalie joined the band we felt the sky was the limit because of her voice. 

Natalie: What year did you guys have to like not have another job? What year was it your full time gig? 

Emily: Well, I had a teenage job but I never really had a job because I was 16 to like 21. We were making enough money by the time I was 21 and could live on my own. 

Me: How was it for bluegrass back then? 

Martie: Like we weren't making the blue grass circuit, we weren't going to the IBMA's, maybe we went one year. As soon as we got drums in the band which was pretty early we were ousted from being truly bluegrass by the purists so no, I think we had our mindset a little bit more on Nashville and country music at that stage. Emily and I are up going to fiddle and banjo contests and bluegrass festivals and all that and we had another band, a kids band. 

Me: What was it like being an all-women bluegrass band back then? 

Martie: I don't know that about bluegrass music, I guess I listened to Sarah Derose, I love her, and love a lot of bluegrass music. I didn't know that about that genre. 

Me: Natalie, when you joined the band did you automatically see, go my God, there's the potential here to be the biggest band in the whole entire world? 

Natalie: Of course! LOL. 

Me: Really, did you see this as it could have tremendous potential at least? 

Natalie: Yes, that's what made me join the band because I was not a country music listener. Definitely didn't know western music or much bluegrass but I was very impressed with their talent. I knew that was special to have females that played their instruments as good as any guy out there. So I thought the three of us, I did think we could be something. 

Emily: Natalie just wanted to get out of that test the next day. 

Me: What kind of test? 

Natalie: I had an economics test in college the next day that once I joined the band I didn't have to study for that anymore. LOL. 

Me: Martie, when did you realize this thing got bigger than you could've imagined? 

Martie: "I Can Love You Better," the first single released on "Wide Open Spaces" being on the radio, driving around Dallas and hearing ourselves. I think that sounds cliche but that was the moment where I thought we're on the radio. That was big time. 

Me: So, pre-2003 your song "Traveling Soldier" was a big hit, but was labeled "patriotic." How did you feel about that? 

Natalie: Great. I feel patriotic. We started the year of with the controversy which was the year that song came out, by singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Nothing more patriotic than that. So, yeah, it's kinda ironic what happened a couple of months later. 

Me: I have a DVD about that whole incident, the documentary about it, which for people that don't know can you tell the readers what happened? 

Natalie: In 2003, we created a firestorm when, at a show in London, I stated their opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and said I was "ashamed" of the fact that then-President George W. Bush was from Texas. The statement led to widespread boycotts by country fans who supported the Iraq war, and our songs were immediately removed from playlists at thousands of country radio stations. 

Emily: We also received death threats. 

Me: I remember that whole thing. So, how do you look back and reflect on what happened back then? 

Martie: Well, I use it as a learning tool for my children, for my daughters, and they watched the documentary recently and I've been waiting to find the right moment, the right ages they were going to be. They were very confused to why the backlash and why the hate and the anger towards us over it because I think we're all raising our children to speak their minds and have an opinion and be kind. So they didn't quite get it. It feels like that could've happened fifty years ago but it didn't. It's quite recent in our past. But we all feel like it was a blessing for our career, for us personally. It really was, it was hard at the moment but we wouldn't change it. 

Me: Yeah, Natalie, in the documentary you said how freeing it was when the controversy happened. Why dd you say that? 

Natalie: Because it casts aside any opinions of us, they already hate us, we can make any kind of music we want. We didn't realize that people thought we were a certain way because we played country music or were on country radio. It was just a shock to us that people didn't know who we were. I think we felt that people liked us because we were honest and just didn't always say the right thing, or best thing for press or media. It was really surprising and felt gross that people thought we would not be pro-choice or for women's rights or peace and love. So it was very freeing to go okay, they liked us, but actually they didn't like us because you thought we were this other thing. So now if they like us its for true reasons which just felt a lot better. 

Me: Emily, if that happened now, do you think it would be handled differently? 

Emily: Absolutely, mostly because of social media. We were kind of pre-social media so now everybody has a platform, everybody can have a voice. People are saying what they mean, or what they want to say all the time. Not necessarily artists but just people in general. So the criticism of administration or what's going on in the world is just kind of everyday fodder. For us back then we didn't have a way for the fan base to kind of subtract what was happening with these groups that were kid of organizing against us. So, I do think it's different these days. 

Me: So, what do you think of social media and how it affects everything? 

Emily: These days I feel sorry for anyone, at least on our sites, who say something bad about us because our fans just go after them like rap digs. LOL. So we just sit back and watch the feat happen. 

Me: I love the "Not Ready to Make Nice" song, ladies, fro, "Taking the Long Way" album. What was the stakes coming out with that record to having to respond to everything? 

Natalie: What do you mean by "the stakes of it"? 

Me: That's a good question. I guess I mean when that all went down in 2003 and the documentary came out it felt like your response of record, it felt like a response to everything. I think when someone makes something that is a response to something else there's inherent stakes in it. As opposed to making a record just of love songs or a record of things that I like. Does that make sense? 

Natalie: Yeah. I think for me that was done once we were done and completed the record. Like I think that to me would have been the challenge. Like can we do this, can we tap in? A lot of our songwriting before that had been less personal and more storytelling or telling a made up story or somebody else's story. This time we were going to tap into our lives and our experience. So I just wanted to get that out there and get that done. Rick Rubin is the first person to kind of show us that we could do that and had that in us. 

Me: Oh, yeah, I forgot about Rick Rubin produced that record. Ten years before he was supposed to produce Foghat's comeback album. Anyway, how did you get involved with Rick? 

Natalie: He reached out to us and asked if he could produce our next record and that was amazing to us. We didn't even know he would know who we were, so it was really awesome to have his encouragement of just telling us we got to write about our experience. He would say why he reached out to us, because he finally felt that we had something to write about and he was right. So for me the stakes were just being able to write a whole record or co-write a whole record and do that. Because of what happened to us anybody that liked it that was bonus and that was awesome. Then to go and win five Grammys after all that was even more awesome but that wasn't what it was about for us I don't think. I think it was about the process of writing about that. 

Me: So, what was it like working with Rick Rubin? 

Emily: In the early stages of writing he would say things like "I don't believe you." Like we'd come in with a song and maybe we'd just make some stuff up along with the truth and he's say "I just don't believe you." So he really forced us to be as blatantly honest as we could and that was kind of a fun thing as well. 

Me: Okay, let's talk about the new album "Gaslighter." What was the hardest song to write for this new album? 

Natalie: "Match March." 

Me: Why is that? 

Martie: It was hard because it started out as something completely different. I think we knew that there was a great song in there but we just couldn't squeeze it out of what we had to work with initially. So we kept kind of coming back to it and coming back to it and looking at it from a different way. Dan Wilson came over to help us finish it. Natalie was doing dishes and we were trying to finish that but we were also trying to write something else and Jack started a beat and his word was cool. I'm just glad we stuck with it and found the right thing for this song. 

Me: Why is that, Martie? 

Martie: Because I feel like with just everything that's happening with this Black Lives Matter movement, thank God that we had this song. It makes the album so much deeper. 

Me: So, what can you say about the making of the video? 

Emily: We have an amazing artistic director named Seanne Farmer and she's behind a lot of the stuff you see. She did the "Gaslighter" video, she's always pulling on other artists to bring visual ideas in and she's kind of our editor and we talked about this idea of showing marches through time that are all reflected the lyrics but also reelected of what's happening right now and she just pulled it together. Between the three of us we're sending clips and talking how long did it take us to do it, maybe like two weeks? 

Natalie: I want to say two weeks, yeah. 

Emily: So over that time she's just honing and honing and honing and by the end I was so emotional and I would watch it and that's her genius is that just her timing and the cuts and everything. It was an intense process let's just say that. 

Me: Natalie, does it feel like country music is catching up to what you've been castigated for all these years ago? 

Natalie: I don't keep up with country music or know anything about it. LOL. 

Me: Hmmm. So, do you still consider part of country music?

Emily: We'll always be in the dollar bin as county music. I think when people who like to categorize but I think we're always searching for new sounds and new things to do with our instrumentation. And although we'll always will be banjo, fiddle, three part harmony every album we try out new things. So that's just how we see it. I don't know that we really categorize ourselves. We have a lot of friends and people that we work with in the industry that are very progressive in the country music industry. I think what's happening I think is that radio caters to a certain type of listener and that's where you get kind of that push back. 

Natalie: We don't think of any industry of category honesty. We're just kind of do our thing and let the business people worry about the business. We've never been like industry hobnobbers or going to everything to be seen. I don't know, we just do our thing. 

Me: I agree, and I think its the job of the nerdy blogger to overthink of these things. Hahahaha. Natalie, you worked with Taylor Swift, sheet big fan of yours, right? 

Natalie: She's always been so complimentary to us and always said we were the reason she got into music. I watched her documentary and she talks a lot about how we inspired her so that is awesome because when I think of all the people that inspired me when I was young and starting in this business it does feel good to think that I set a good example for other people are inspired them. We heard other female country artists like Kasey Musgraves say that because of us she spoke her mind and she was just herself. So that's awesome. 

Me: What was it like working with Taylor? 

Natalie: Taylor's great. We didn't get to do that song with her a lot in the studio with her. She knew we were working with Jack and Jack had produced a lot of that record of hers so we just paused what we were doing on our record one day and put our stuff down on her song. But yeah, she's awesome. She makes us proud. 

Me: Martie and Emily, what do you hope your daughters here in this record? 

Martie: Music. LOL. I don't know, hearing this record there's a lot of stuff I don't want them to hear. It's hard for our kids to see us not be parental and perfect. I remember that age, it was probably around 12 or 13 where I realized my parents had flaws and they made mistakes. Now they're old enough I feel like we can talk to them about the fact that we make mistakes and just because they're our mistakes that it doesn't mean we've passed any particular trade down, they're going to make their own mistakes and they have great qualities that maybe I don't even posses. And that song "Young Man" and "Julianna Calm Down" are kind of to all the kids trying to express that, they're their own person. Yeah, we have a little bit of wisdom being 45 and 50, that we can pass down but they're going to have to find their own way. 

Me: Emily, who is Julianna? 

Emily: Well, "Julianna Calm Down" was started by Julia Michaels and so it started as "Julia Calm Down" and then we wrestled it away from her, she just started it and Natalie took to home one night and she put in all our daughters and her nieces and our nieces like a love letter to them to just kind of say "God, if I go back and tell my own self like all these things like these little things don't matter, just stick with it. So I did love that idea of taking our own heartbreak and turning it around to teach a younger generation. So now my daughter Julianna has a twin brother, so every time she gets a little angsty as a teen it's always "Julianna, calm down." He's snarky about it so it created a little bit of hell in her world. LOL. 

Me: I have to say it was such a cool feel to interview you, ladies. I have been a big fan for years, and had a crush on Natalie. Hahaha. When my son was little he called you ladies the Nixie Chicks, or something like that as he couldn't pronounce "Dixie." Thanks for being on the Phile, please come back again. 

Martie: Thank you. 

Natalie: Thank you so much.

That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guests Laird Jim and the girls from the Chicks. The Phile will be back on Friday with Lenny Kravitz. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye. Kiss your brain. 

I don't want you, cook my bread, I don't want you, make my bed, I don't want your money too, I just want to make love to you. - Willie Dixon