So far — and admittedly I’m not too far along in this quest — the Dixie Chicks have had my highest “keep/kill” ratio. Which still isn’t very high, but truth be told it’s not very high on any other form of music, either.
I liked the kick-ass attitude of songs like “Let ‘er Rip” and “Sin Wagon,” and the electric folk sound of several of their works. But while I applaud the sentiments behind “Goodbye, Earl” I’ll probably never need to listen to it again. Same with “Godspeed (Sweet Dreams).” “Lil Jack Slade” is what I consider “band sex,” when the band is out to drive up the energy and get the other bandmembers off while the other bandmembers are doing the exact same thing.
Dumped anything that included the word “heartbreak,” anything that started twanging at me, and anything to do with lonesome hearts, but that still left plenty of songs I liked.
“Wide Open Spaces,” “Long Time Gone,” and “Ready to Run” were all good, and “Pink Toenails” is just fun.
By the way, I told my wife I was doing this and she said to pass along that she was “morally opposed.” Then she reminded me that one of the top selling C&W songs of all time was written by her favorite group, the Bee Gees. And that’s all she’s going to say about that.