An organised group known as the Free Republic set out to bring the band down. The organisation's power, comes through the internet. The site has thousands of subscribers, all of whom were encouraged to destroy the band's music and boycott the radio stations that played it.
"It's scary how much power they do have," "They can take down someone singlehandedly and I don't think Americans are aware of that.
"It's the same group that went after (former US president) Bill Clinton and (gay actress) Ellen DeGeneres."
In the beginning we tried to fight their detractors. We tried to alert radio station programmers to what was happening.
"But they weren't open to it and just thought we were grasping at straws to try and salvage something,"
"It was just bigger than we could fight and we weren't willing to put ourselves out there to be made to look stupid if people weren't willing to investigate this thing and be open to it."
"For the Free Republic we were a dream come true; they made it their mission to take us down. Apparently we were not supposed to think like this because we play country music."