Any chance of a picture?

That has the typical appearance of a pruning group 2, early flowering hybrid clem. These will flower early on growth produced the previous season (the dead looking topgrowth with new shoots emerging) and very often a second bloom later in the season from the current year's growth. The recommendation is to "lightly prune" the topgrowth, avoiding or preserving as many of the new growth shoots as possible.

This obviously presents a challenging pruning experience. However, clematis growers in colder zones often have their type 2 clems killed back to the base by winter cold (Mother Nature's pruning) and in many/most cases still have their clems bloom successfully if somewhat later in the season. And some growers - like me - in warmer climates hard prune their type 2's like type 3's, simply for convenience and pruning ease. Lack of flowering has never been an issue, other than delaying it a few weeks or so.

A word of warning - recent posts from some clematis growers (also in warmer zones) who have hard pruned their type 2's report getting few or very sparse flowering, for whatever reason. So it is your choice to prune off the top, dead looking stuff regardless of the shoots, follow the "lightly prune" instructions or not prune at all.

I know what I would do.😊

Awesome. thanks for that!

It’s not THAT big. maybe I’ll try to get the dead out and leave the live vines since those will flower.