They may have the number one album in the country and won over a new group of blue state and rock fans, but it seems the Dixie Chicks' upcoming national tour isn't meeting projections. Billboard's Ray Waddell has a story on how low sales in some markets has the tour's route in question. Not surprisingly, the sub-par markets are in what used to be the group's stronghold.

"The plug was pulled on public on-sales for shows in Indianapolis (Aug. 23), Oklahoma City (Sept. 26), Memphis (Sept. 27) and Houston (Sept. 30) because of tepid pre-sales in a national promotion with Target stores. The Memphis show has been pulled off the route and the status of the shows in Indianapolis, Houston and Oklahoma City remains uncertain. Industry speculation has it that much or all of the tour may be postponed. At the very least, it is likely routing and capacity will be reconfigured.

Sales in Philly and Toronto, on the other hand, are doing just fine.

An article at the LA Times quotes group spokeswoman Kathy Best as saying "there is a reshuffling of dates" and "there will be some cancellations due to rerouting and additional dates being added." I dunno...kinda sounds like Spinal Tap's manager, Ian Faith, when his band's concerts were cancelled.

Through it all, Arkansas Times writer Jim Harris showed how offended he was that Little Rock was left of the tour schedule but Memphis got a gig. "Some day, these tour management guys are going to start paying attention," he insisted.