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aka: Dixie Chicks

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  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Did the cops in "Goodbye Earl" know (or at least suspect) that Wanda and Mary Anne killed Earl? The fact that they weren't able to prevent Earl from attacking Wanda even after she filed for divorce and got a restraining order implies that they're not very good at their jobs, so it's plausible they bought the ladies' story and never found any evidence to make them suspicious. But it's also possible that, given the timing of his "disappearance," they realized the whole thing was a bit fishy, but they also realized that Earl probably would've killed Wanda eventually, even with her taking legal measures to protect herself. (After all, he ignored a restraining order once, what's to stop him from doing it again after he gets out of jail?) It's plausible that the cops figured the ladies killed Earl, but since he was an Asshole Victim and they only resorted to such measures after the law failed them, they decided just to let it slide. After all, he was "a missing person who nobody missed at all"...
  • Awesome Music: "Not Ready To Make Nice." It takes a lot of guts to write a song that gives the middle finger to your attempted murderer.
  • Covered Up:
    • "Cold Day in July" was recorded by Suzy Bogguss and Joy Lynn White in the early 1990s. White's version scraped the bottom of the country charts in 1993.
    • "Some Days You Gotta Dance" was first recorded by The Ranch, a short-lived band fronted by one Keith Urban. In a strange zig-zagging, Urban played guitar on the Chicks' version.
    • Occurs with all four singles from Home: "Long Time Gone," "Landslide," "Travelin' Soldier" and "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" were first recorded by Darrell Scott, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Robison, and Radney Foster, respectively. Ty England also recorded "Travelin' Soldier" before the Chicks got to it.
    • "Goodbye Earl" was originally recorded by Sons of the Desert, but their version became a Missing Episode.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: "Goodbye Earl" and "White Trash Wedding" prove that there are some things you can only get away with in country and rap. The former has two best friends murdering an abusive husband and no one caring much about finding the Asshole Victim. The second is a woman getting her boyfriend drunk, getting pregnant, and roping him into marriage, despite the fact he can't afford to get married.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: After Maines's controversial statements, the best way to sum up what happened is "Country music fans hate them, but everyone else started liking them," (Country music is notoriously patriotic, but the rest of America was a little more critical of the decision to go to war.) However, as opinion on both the War and President Bush began to go sour, it seemed to become more like a large Periphery Demographic. This extends to outside the United States: the remark got an overwhelming ovation from the British crowd, where she made the statements in the first place, and their 2016 tour garnered glowing reviews in Britain and Europe.
  • Heartwarming Moments:
    • "Lullaby", especially if you're a parent or want to be one.
    • "Easy Silence", a gentle song about love providing refuge and safety from a chaotic and sometimes frightening world.
      And I come to find a refuge in the
      Easy silence that you make for me
      It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
      And the peaceful quiet you create for me
      And the way you keep the world at bay for me
      The way you keep the world at bay...
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • A line in "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" states that "Superman's in pajamas on the couch." Natalie's husband Adrian Pasdar would later play a flying superhero in Heroes.
    • See Germans Love David Hasselhoff above. Funny that most of the country ended up thinking the same thing that Natalie said in 2003.
  • Moment of Awesome: Their unannounced appearance at the 2016 CMA Awards, performing "Daddy Lessons" with Beyoncé herself and interspersing a few lines of "Long Time Gone" in the bridge. The performance is generally seen as a sly Take That! to the insular country music industry for their blacklisting and the racist backlash the CMA received for even daring to book Beyoncé on the show.
  • Overshadowed by Controversy: Nowadays, probably the biggest thing the Chicks are known for is just how hard the country music industry turned on them following their political statements. Even despite them also being well-known for their critical prestige and commercial success among audiences outside the country bubble, they remain extremely controversial within that sphere, and that likely won't be changing soon given their ever-broadening tendency to go against the grain.
  • Periphery Demographic: After Maines' controversial statements about then-President Bush that led to their shunning from the country music industry, the band gained massive support from the rock and punk rock communities for standing up for their beliefs. As one music blogger put it:
    "In the face of so much criticism, The Dixie Chicks chose to stand behind what they said. When the Country Music world decided to shun them for it, The Dixie Chicks released the biggest and most anthemic "Fuck You"s that I’ve ever heard. It’s an incredible and inspiring story of how three women who rose to fame in the heart of Country Music chose to not back down to their own community. The Dixie Chicks are Punk FUCKING Rock, and it’s about damn time they get the credit they deserve."
  • Retroactive Recognition: The video for "Goodbye, Earl" stars both a pre-30 Rock Jane Krakowski as Wanda, and a pre-Heroes Adrian Pasdar as one of the cops who come to arrest Earl.
  • Tear Jerker:
    • "Travelin' Soldier." A teenage girl befriends a soldier who goes off to Vietnam and dies. When they announce his death during a football game, she's the only one crying. It's a lot sadder than it sounds.
    • Think that's bad? You should follow that up with "Top of the World". There's rumors that said that this song caused major depression in some people. And then finish off with the VIDEO of the song if you're not convinced yet. The banning of this video on VH1, MTV, and CMT makes a lot of sense after watching it.
    • "Without You", "Heartbreak Town" and "Let Him Fly" from Fly.
    • "So Hard" from Taking the Long Way can be one if you know the backstory.
  • Vindicated by History: While Home was strongly received by many publications and sold outstandingly well, many critics were simply not moved by the change of direction from the album. It would take until the end of the decade for these publications to acknowledge the album's greatness.

Alternative Title(s): Dixie Chicks

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