Fly

1	Ready to Run 3:52
2	If I Fall You're Going Down with Me 3:04
3	Cowboy Take Me Away 4:51
4	Cold Day in July 5:12
5	Goodbye Earl 4:19
6	Hello Mr. Heartache 3:49
7	Don't Waste Your Heart 2:50
8	Sin Wagon 3:41
9	Without You 3:32
10	Some Days You Gotta Dance 2:30
11	Hole in My Head 3:22
12	Heartbreak Town 3:47
13	Ain't No Thang But a Chickin' Wang 0:06
14	Let Him Fly 3:08

Barnes & Noble

Soaring creatively just as it's bound to skyrocket commercially, the Dixie Chicks' FLY is aptly dubbed. The songs center on the twin themes of being swept away by love and being swept out by love gone awry, and the Chicks, especially lead singer Natalie Maines, tell it like they've been there more than once. Gripping arrangements, impassioned musicianship from some of Nashville's finest, and more than a few surprises make FLY live up to the buzz. Check out "Don't Waste Your Heart," a traditional honky-tonk weeper by Maines and fellow Chick Emily Robison, in which the female protagonist warns her man that she -- not him -- is the faithless type. Or the breakneck "Sin Wagon," another Chicks' original, in which Maines dumps her inconsiderate beau and vows to do "a little mattress dancin'." Matraca Berg, Jim Lauderdale, and Dennis Linde pitch in with literate, big-hearted songs. The album ends on a provocative note, with Maines searing Patty Griffin's "Let Him Fly," while Robison and Martie Seidel harmonize softly behind her and Adam Steinberg summons a desolate ambiance with some evocative slide guitar. It's quite a journey, this FLY, and with it the Dixie Chicks demand to be taken seriously as artists by bringing music of substance as well as style back to the country mainstream. David McGee

All Music Guide

Wide Open Spaces unveiled the new incarnation of the Dixie Chicks, revealing an eclectic, assured group that was simultaneously rootsy and utterly modern, but if that 1998 de facto debut captured the band just leaving the ground, Fly -- perhaps appropriately, given the title -- finds the group in full flight, in full possession of their talents. This time around, the different sounds they draw upon are more fully integrated, which only makes them more distinctive as a group. Even if the whole of the album feels more of a piece, they still take the time to deliver a slice of pure honky tonk on "Hello Mr. Heartache" and a piece of breakneck bluegrass on the rip-roaring, wickedly clever "Sin Wagon," which is also one of the group originals here, a collaboration between Natalie Maines and Emily Robison and outside writer Stephony Smith. It -- along with the Maines-cowritten "Without You," the Maines/Robison "Don't Waste Your Heart" and Martie Seidel's co-written "Ready to Run" and "Cowboy Take Me Away" -- showcase the trio's increasing craft as writers, which is one of the reasons this album sounds unified. But even the outside-written material feels like the group, whether it's the twangy boogie "Some Days You Gotta Dance," Patty Griffin's "Let Him Fly," the melancholy "Cold Day in July" and, especially "Goodbye Earl" where a wife gets revenge on her abusive husband. Like before, the group moves gracefully between these different styles, with Maines providing a powerful, compelling focus with Robison and Seidel offering sensitive support, and this blend makes Fly a rich, nuanced album that just gets better with repeated listens. Stephen Thomas Erlewine