Fly (Dixie Chicks album)

Fly
Standard edition cover; limited edition version featured a different background
Studio album by
Dixie Chicks
ReleasedAugust 31, 1999
RecordedMarch–June 1999
GenreCountry
Length48:02
LabelMonument
Producer
Dixie Chicks chronology
Wide Open Spaces
(1998) 		Fly
(1999) 		Home
(2002)
Singles from Fly
  1. "Ready to Run"
    Released: June 28, 1999
  2. "Cowboy Take Me Away"
    Released: November 8, 1999
  3. "Goodbye Earl"
    Released: February 28, 2000
  4. "Cold Day in July"
    Released: May 8, 2000
  5. "Without You"
    Released: August 9, 2000
  6. "If I Fall You're Going Down with Me"
    Released: February 12, 2001
  7. "Heartbreak Town"
    Released: June 25, 2001
  8. "Some Days You Gotta Dance"
    Released: September 24, 2001
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Consumer Guide(3-star Honorable Mention)(3-star Honorable Mention)(3-star Honorable Mention)[2]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[3]
Houston Chronicle[4]
Los Angeles Times[5]
PopMatters8/10[6]
Q[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]

Fly is the fifth studio album (second major label) by American country music band the Dixie Chicks, released on August 31, 1999 through Monument Records. Compared to their previous album and breakthrough Wide Open Spaces (1998), the group had a stronger hand in writing, co-writing five of the fourteen tracks. The album was produced by Blake Chancey and Paul Worley, both of whom had already produced Wide Open Spaces.

The album was widely praised, even more so than their prior album and has been regarded as one of the best country albums of the '90s decade. The album was a massive commercial success for the group, debuting at the top of the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums with 341,000 copies sold first week, becoming the most successful country album of 2000 and making the group the first ever country group in history to debut at number one on the former chart. The album was also moderately successful internationally, debuting atop the Canadian country albums chart and peaking at number six on the Canadian Albums Chart, while also peaking within the top 40 in the album charts in Australia, Finland, and the United Kingdom.

Eight singles were released from Fly, including the Hot Country Songs number one hits "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Without You", along with their then-highest charting entry on the Billboard Hot 100, "Goodbye Earl", which peaked at number 19. Other successful hits from the record include country top ten hits "Ready to Run" from the Runaway Bride soundtrack, "Cold Day in July", "If I Fall You're Going Down with Me", and "Some Days You Gotta Dance", with the latter having been originally recorded by The Ranch for their only studio album. Original member Keith Urban plays guitar on the Dixie Chicks's version.

The album earned four Grammy nominations in 2000: Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for "Ready to Run", Best Country Album, Album of the Year, and Best Country Song also for "Ready to Run" and its two writers Marcus Hummon and member Martie Maguire (then Martie Seidel), with the group winning Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Album.

On June 25, 2002, the album was certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling ten million copies, making the Chicks the only country group to have two diamond albums after Wide Open Spaces.[10] In 2020, the album was ranked at 224 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[11]

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Fly – Dixie Chicks". AllMusic. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert (2000). "Dixie Chicks: Fly". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  3. ^ Nash, Alanna (September 10, 1999). "Fly". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 21, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  4. ^ Hildebrand, Lee (August 29, 1999). "Dixie Chicks Let Emotions 'Fly'". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  5. ^ Hilburn, Robert (August 29, 1999). "Stand-Up CD From Dixie Chicks; Travis Meeks Aims High". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  6. ^ Zeltner, Mark (October 31, 1999). "Dixie Chicks: Fly". PopMatters. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  7. ^ "Dixie Chicks: Fly". Q (158): 118. November 1999.
  8. ^ Sheffield, Rob (September 16, 1999). "Dixie Chicks: Fly". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  9. ^ Harris, Keith (2004). "Dixie Chicks". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 245. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  10. ^ RIAA Bestsellers Archived August 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.