With a career spanning over several decades, The Dixie Chicks achieved platinum success, and with that they became a voice for females for their generation, especially within the country music industry. They were talented, honest, and with songs like “Goodbye Earl” they pushed the envelope – like all true artists do – to address issues that made people uncomfortable. But when they went on their career hiatus, that need and responsibility of honesty and trailblazing (and pure, natural talent) disappeared. That is until two 19-year old girls named Madison Marlow and Taylor Dye formed a duo that would pick up that torch and continue to pave the way for women in country.
Usually an up-and-coming artist will play it safe and release a vanilla single to build fan and industry support before going out on a limb with something leaning controversial, but that was not the case for Maddie & Tae. The girls took a courageous chance when they released their debut single “Girl In a Country Song” in July of 2014. The clever song, written by Marlow, Dye and Aaron Scherz, not only spoke up against the stereotypical portrayal of women in modern-day music by male country artists (painted on jeans, bare feet, you know the rest), but they fearlessly called-out some of the biggest male stars within the lyrics, with references to Blake Shelton, Tyler Farr, Chris Young, Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line. And to add more insult to injury, they referenced highly-respected country legends Conway Twitty and George Strait and how they would never refer to women in such a way in their songs, pointing shame and embarrassment towards the current male stars. Quite the finger-shaking. And if that wasn’t enough, to really hammer the point home, the music video centered around a role-reversal with the males dressing up in cutoff jeans, bikini tops and other outfits that women are commonly described as wearing, completely (and literally) exposing the ridiculousness of such stereotypes.
Much like their idols the Dixie Chicks, Maddie & Tae saw that they had a platform to get a message out – whereas “Goodbye Earl” helped bring to light the truth of domestic violence in a tongue-in-cheek way, “Girl In a Country Song” jumped on the opportunity of the stirring happening within country music with the over-hype of “Bro Country.” Both songs spoke up for women in a way that had not been done before.
But Maddie & Tae’s social responsibility does not stop there, as their debut album Start Here has more than just the one “girl power” song. “Shut Up and Fish,” the third single from the album, challenges the assumption that a girl is only good at being pretty and the object of a boy’s attention. It tells the story of date between a country girl and a snobbish city boy who is only interested kissing said pretty country girl while all the girl wants to do is well, fish. Again, with their witty lyrics, the duo tackles a stereotype to prove that a girl can be much more than just a pretty face, and to the contrary, sometimes a guy is nothing more than just a good-looking guy.
“Sierra” is based on real-life experiences that Maddie dealt with regarding an arrogant female classmate who bullied and took advantage of those around her and about how in the end she will “get hers.” Despite the fact that the song is written by a teenager about a teenager, the lyrics are universal, ageless and timeless, again showing the level of songwriting talent by these young ladies.
Like the Dixie Chicks, the duo recorded melancholy ballads as well, including the powerful “Fly,” which addresses never giving up despite all obstacles one may face (the song also shares the title of the Grammy winning album by the Dixie Chicks). Melodically “Fly” could be seen as the “Cowboy Take Me Away” of the album (a song that Maddie & Tae are known to cover in concert).
Everyone has their idols, but not everyone is as talented as Maddie & Tae to literally follow in the footsteps of their idols. And now that Natalie, Emily and Martie are touring again, perhaps these two generations of female country artists can join forces.
Note to all men – you have been warned.