Saturday, September 19, 2009

Best of 2000s: Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way (5/5)

I'm not a country fan, but I adore this album. The songwriting is top notch, particularly on the stick-to-our-guns "Not Ready to Make Nice," which tackled the band's infamous protest against President Bush and subsequent scandal it caused at country radio. The moment when the strings soar after the bridge is one of the best moments of pop music this decade. "The Long Way Around," a tribute to nonconformity, is a strong second best track. The album also has a wide range from the down-home rocker "Lubbock or Leave It" to the sweet folksy ballad "Bitter End." Among the albums that have won the Album of the Year Grammy Award this decade, it's a close race between this and Norah Jones' Come Away with Me as to which is my favorite.

Best: Not Ready to Make Nice, The Long Way Around, Easy Silence, Everybody Knows, Bitter End, Voice Inside My Head, Lullaby, Lubbock or Leave It

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