224. Dixie Chicks, "Fly"

 

The Dixie Chicks (now just the Chicks, tyvm) were already successful.  In 1998, they released their first album with Natalie Maines, their new lead singer, called Wide Open Spaces, and it was a huge hit.  This album followed in 1999, debuting at #1 and spawning an incredible eight country radio singles.  Basically every song on the album charted.  Then it sold 10 million copies, which sounds like a lot and actually is a lot but Wide Open Spaces sold 13 mil so I guess it was kind of a letdown.

The album varies from very, very country - "Hello Mr. Heartache" could be a Hank Williams song with a few tweaks - to more pop-country, like "Ready to Run" and lots of the other songs.  The thing that really jumps out at you is the harmonies between Maines and Emily Robison and Martie Seidel; they have a great rapport and their voices really sound great together.  I also liked "Sin Wagon," a great Texas 2-step-ish song about a woman who's tired of her man having all the fun, with just great lyrics ("Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition/Need a little bit more of my twelve ounce nutrition").

At first I was a little meh on this record but the more I listened to it the more it grew on me and I can definitely see the appeal.  The songs are really well-written and incredibly well-produced and even though it's a pure product of the Nashville machine, there's an undeniable earnestness that comes through.  You believe it because they sound like they believe it.

The best-known song is probably "Goodbye Earl," an upbeat tale of three friends who kill one of the group's abusive husband.  Whoever thought of marrying murder ballad and upbeat pop country is a genius and that genius is Dennis Linde, the songwriter, who has a pretty interesting story.  Linde wrote something like 250 recorded songs and won all kinds of songwriting awards but was so famously reclusive he sent his wife and kids to accept the awards.  He wasn't a weird hermit or anything; he just didn't like publicity.  In an unexpected twist, his daughter was married to James Marsden for a while.  Anyway, the song is insanely catchy and a real fist-pumping female empowerment anthem that scared off radio stations:

Right away Mary Anne flew in from Atlanta
On a red eye midnight flight
She held Wanda's hand as they worked out a plan
And it didn't take 'em long to decide

That Earl had to die, goodbye Earl
Those black-eyed peas, they tasted alright to me, Earl
You're feelin' weak? Why don't you lay down and sleep, Earl
Ain't it dark wrapped up in that tarp, Earl

The Dixie Chicks later got cancelled before cancelled was a thing for saying they were ashamed George W. Bush was from Texas at a concert in London on the eve of the Iraq War.  People got so mad!  They had to disappear for a while but I guess they're on the right side of history now.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Remember the country album rule!  If it's one of the rare country albums to make it, it almost certainly deserves to be on here.