3 Country No. 1 Hits From 2000 That Never Seem To Get Old

For country music, the 2000s were an era of combining pop-rock influences with traditional country sounds that had thrived in previous decades. Even today, so many of these songs bridge the gap between old country and the genre’s more modern sound. Here are three songs that went No. 1 at the start of this era, from The Dixie Chicks to Kenny Rogers. 

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“Cowboy Take Me Away” by The Dixie Chicks 

If anything screams nostalgia, it’s this song. There’s something ethereal about the way the Chicks’ voices blend, especially in that chorus. It’s no wonder “Cowboy Take Me Away” went No. 1 in February of 2000.

Band member Martie Maguire wrote this one about other Chicks member Emily Strayer, and her relationship with songwriter Charlie Robinson, whom Strayer married in 1999. “[Emily] had been dating a bunch of guys I didn’t approve of,” Maguire told VH1 Storytellers. “And then she met Charlie, and I sort of pictured him whisking her off into the sunset.”

“That’s the Way” by Jo De Messina

Messina topped the Hot Country Songs chart with this song, which followed up the success of her 1998 album, I’m Alright. That album produced not one, but three No. 1’s:  “Bye, Bye”; “I’m Alright”; and “Stand Beside Me”.

The special thing about “That’s The Way” is that, according to Messina, the song was written with her in mind by writers Annie Roboff and Holly Lamar. “They said they had read about all the things I had gone through in life, where everything’s going great, then you crash, then you go back up again – just the roller coaster ride that I’ve had,” the singer explained to CMT. “I hope people can relate to it; everybody’s lives are filled with ups and downs.”

“Buy Me A Rose” by Kenny Rogers (ft. Alison Krauss and Billy Dean)

Not only did “Buy Me A Rose” make Kenny Rogers the oldest person to get a No. 1 at the time, but it was also Krauss and Dean’s only No. 1 hit. The song sings about how it’s really the little gestures that matter the most, from the perspective of a wife to her husband. 

“Buy me a rose, call me from work / Open a door for me, what would it hurt / Show me you love me by the look in your eyes / These are the little things I need the most in my life.”

“Buy Me A Rose” went No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart in May of 2000.

Photo by: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc