Released on their album Fly in June 1999, the same year CMT was acquired by Viacom, the Dixie Chicks’ single “Ready to Run” is about women challenging dominant, gendered stereotypes of marriage by running away instead of towards a traditional, monogamous marriage. The video correlates to the song’s lyrics (typical of country music videos), portraying a narrative of the trio acting as runaway brides; the brides physically run from their wedding and metaphorically escape from the larger narrative of the expectation that women want to have a traditional wedding. After they run away, they are chased by their bridal party, who attempt to reel them back into their expected roles of married women.
“Ready to Run” Music Video via Dixie Chicks on YouTube
As compared to Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen,” the way that country music video content has transitioned over time is apparent, beginning to include MTV strategies and shifting values in line with mainstream society. Rather than being simple and conservative, “Ready to Run” incorporates various elements of MTV’s strategy of spectacle, such as the three singers riding on the back of a garbage truck and throwing cake in the faces of their ex fiancés, as well as a more progressive theme of breaking gender roles.
Despite these transformations, “Ready to Run” maintains its ties to country music by incorporating country iconography and elements of storytelling. The video is set in a rural neighborhood with white picket fences and an American flag, and the wedding attendants are all Caucasian, wearing conservative, Southern-styled attire such as “church hats,” which were commonly worn to church service by Southern women as a sign of respect (“What Are Church Hats?”). Lastly, the video maintains country music’s typical video formatting by telling one wholistic story.
