Desert Island Discs (with a twist) Part 4: Goodbye Earl - Dixie Chicks

First posted on another blog on Jan 2nd

Prior to 2004, country music existed in a distant world. There may have been the odd compilation record in the collection and faded memories of Charlie Rich, Glen Campbell and Billie Joe Spears blasting out from Radio 2 in the '70s, but very little else. The epicentre of my musical world was well away from Nashville Tennessee or any other haven that gave a voice to country music. But in the words of Hank Williams, I Saw the Light, and it definitely appeared in an odd place. 

Midland is a small town on the banks of Lake Huran, a couple of hours drive north of Toronto, Ontario. The year is 2004 and a first ever holiday in Canada. Before this weird encounter in a karaoke bar took place, the trip had consisted of sightseeing, baseball, watching the Stanley Cup hockey play offs and general tourist things. Little was known at the time, but eyes and ears were drawn to two girls pouring their heart and soul into a version of Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks, a band that I was aware of at the time without really taking much interest. Yet something clicked into place that evening to make me want to explore further. By the end of that trip, a copy of the Fly album had been bought which housed the track, and within a couple of weeks both Home and Wide Open Spaces were in the CD collection. 

From that moment, my interest in country music spiralled out of control as it was a mission to make up for the lost years to the extent that I decided to park every other genre on one side for the foreseeable future. Within two years I had seen the Dixie Chicks return to the scene of their crime with a second Shepherd's Bush Empire London gig and bought Taking the Long Way on release day. From then on it seemed I was having a de ja vu moment as the band slipped into a seemingly endless hiatus and The Jam of 1982 was revisited. The latter sadly one hiatus that did become permanent. 

When starting this series of Desert Island Discs (with a twist), Goodbye Earl was the first record that came to mind. It has been the most important and influential song ever heard because it spawned a second coming in music, one that was never envisioned as the latter part of the '90s stuttered into the new millennium. Fortunately, the Dixie Chicks hiatus remained just that and in both 2014 and 2016 they returned to the UK to play shows and seemingly never tire of getting even with the ghastly Earl. 

I have no idea what that bar was called in Midland, nor have anymore details on the two people singing the karaoke other than they appeared to mean every word in the lyrics! No pivotal list would be complete without Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks. There may never be another song in my life as directional as this one, but you could have said that about many previous records on the day that plane landed in Toronto airport in May 2004. You just never know what is round the corner.