''Wide Open Spaces'' is the fourth studio album and the major label debut of American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

band

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and ...

. It was their first record with new lead vocalist

Natalie Maines Natalie Louise Maines (born October 14, 1974) is an American singer. She is the lead vocalist for the all-female country band The Chicks. In 1995, after leaving Berklee College of Music, Maines was recruited by the Dixie Chicks to replace their ...

, and became their breakthrough commercial success. It received diamond status by the RIAA on February 20, 2003, in the United States, having shipped 13 million units worldwide, while spending more than six years in the Australian ARIA music charts Country Top 20. "Once You've Loved Somebody" had previously been recorded by

John & Audrey Wiggins John & Audrey Wiggins was an American country music duo formerly signed to Mercury Records. The duo consisted of John Wiggins and his sister Audrey, both of whom alternated as lead vocalists. They recorded two studio albums for PolyGram/Mercury R ...

on their 1996 album, '' The Dream''. ''Wide Open Spaces'', as well as their next albums ''Fly'' (1999) and ''Home'' (2002), were released in the

HDCD High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) is a proprietary audio encode-decode process that claims to provide increased dynamic range over that of standard Compact Disc Digital Audio, while retaining backward compatibility with existing compact ...

format.

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''Wide Open Spaces'' received favorable reviews from critics. Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a two-star honorable mention, simply stating that the "blonds have more brains (than they get credit for)." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wrote that "this tradition-rooted

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

trio knows its way around

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano (tack piano) ...

, bluegrass,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

and

country-rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal ...

." Concluding the review, it deemed that the "range, plus their sweet, assured three-part harmonies, Natalie Maines' attractively steely lead vocals, and savvy song selection have propelled this major-label debut into the Top 10." In a retrospective review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, he stated that it hit a "sweet spot" and described the album as "appealing to many different audiences" and "eclectic without being elitist." He described Natalie Maines' voice as "powerful" and "bluesy" to "give these songs a compelling center" and "versatile" to " egotiatethe twists and turns of these songs without a hitch, easily moving from the vulnerability of "

You Were Mine "You Were Mine" is a song recorded by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released in December 1998 as the fourth single from the album '' Wide Open Spaces'', the song spent two weeks atop the U.S. Country singles chart in March 1999; th ...

" to the snarl of "Give It Up or Let Me Go." Concluding his review, he praised the "remarkably wide range" as "effortlessly eclectic" and the group for "bringing

he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

all together with their attitude and understated musicality."

Track listing

Personnel

Compiled from liner notes. The Chicks *

– vocals * Emily Erwin – acoustic guitar, banjo, Dobro, vocals *

Martie Seidel Martha Elenor Maguire (née Erwin, previously Seidel; October 12, 1969) is an American musician who is a founding member of both the all-female alternative country band The Chicks and country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in na ...

– fiddle, mandolin, vocals Additional personnel *Mark Casstevens – acoustic guitar *Bobby Charles, Jr. – bass guitar *

Joe Chemay Joe Chemay is an American bassist and background singer, known for his recording session work. Biography Chemay started out working as a session and touring support musician in Los Angeles, but moved to Nashville in 1989. Chemay has worked wi ...

– bass guitar *Billy Crain – acoustic guitar *

Lloyd Maines Lloyd Wayne Maines (born June 28, 1951) is an American country music record producer, musician and songwriter. He was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame as one of the first three members, the other two being Willie Nelson and Stev ...

– steel guitar *George Marinelli – electric guitar *

Greg Morrow Greg Morrow is an American drummer, percussionist, session musician, mixing engineer, and vocalist. Biography Morrow was born in Ripley, Tennessee and raised in Memphis. At age 11, Morrow and his band performed on a local TV show, and he par ...

– drums *Tommy Nash – electric guitar on "Give It Up or Let Me Go" *Tony Paoletta – steel guitar on "Give It Up or Let Me Go" * Michael Rhodes – bass guitar *Tom Roady – shaker, congas, tambourine *

Matt Rollings Matt Rollings is a Grammy Award-winning American composer, keyboard player and record producer. Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, Rollings has worked with many artists, not all country. Matt won the 'Best Traditional Pop Voc ...

– piano, Hammond organ * Billy Joe Walker, Jr. – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

Paul Worley Paul Worley (born February 16, 1950 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American record producer and session guitarist, known primarily for his work in country music. Formerly a vice president at Sony BMG, he later joined the staff of Warner Bros. Re ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar Technical *

Chuck Ainlay Chuck Ainlay is an American record producer and audio engineer. He has worked with Mark Knopfler on much of Knopfler's solo work, in addition to some Dire Straits material. He has 4 Grammy Awards and 5 nominations. Along with Knopfler and Bob ...

- mixing on "Give It Up or Let Me Go" * Jim Burnett - Pro Tools editing *

Blake Chancey Blake Chancey (born September 11, 1962) is an American record producer and music business executive, known primarily for his work in country music. Formerly an executive vice president and chief creative officer for Sony Music, he later formed a ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Don Cobb - digital editing * Carlos Grier - digital editing * John Guess - mixing *Eric Legg - recording * Denny Purcell - mastering *

Billy Sherrill Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Gl ...

- recording on "Give It Up or Let Me Go" * Paul Worley - production

Accolades

At the

41st Grammy Awards The 41st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1999, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1998. Lauryn Hill received the most nominations with 10, setting a record for the most no ...

, the album was awarded two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

s out of three nominations. It was awarded

Best Country Album The Grammy Award for Best Country Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the country music genre. Honors ...

(the first of what would be four trophies in this category: they would later win for '' Fly'' in 2000, '' Home'' in 2003, and ''

Taking the Long Way ''Taking the Long Way'' is the seventh studio album by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released on May 23, 2006, through Columbia Nashville, it was also the group's last album released under the “Dixie Chicks” name. The album debut ...

'' in 2007) and for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the song "

There's Your Trouble "There's Your Trouble" is a song written by Mark Selby and Tia Sillers and recorded by American country music band Dixie Chicks (now known as the Chicks). It was released in March 1998 as the second single from the band's fourth studio album, '' W ...

". This is an award the Chicks would win five times: in 2000 for "Ready to Run", in 2003 for "

Long Time Gone "Long Time Gone" is a bluegrass song by American musician Darrell Scott, originally recorded by him on his 2000 album ''Real Time'' which Scott recorded together with Tim O'Brien. The song was later covered by the American band Dixie Chicks, an ...

", in 2005 for " Top of the World" and 2007 for "

Not Ready to Make Nice "Not Ready to Make Nice" is a song co-written and performed by American country music trio Dixie Chicks. It was released in March 2006 as the first single from the band's seventh studio album, ''Taking the Long Way''. The Dixie Chicks wrote the s ...

", a feat only matched by

The Judds The Judds were an American country music duo composed of lead vocalist Wynonna Judd and her mother, Naomi Judd. The duo signed to RCA Nashville in 1983 and released six studio albums between then and 1991. The Judds were one of the most success ...

. In addition, the Chicks were nominated for

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

in 1999.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Singles

Other charted songs

Certifications

References

{{Authority control The Chicks albums Monument Records albums 1998 albums Albums produced by Paul Worley Albums produced by Blake Chancey Grammy Award for Best Country Album Canadian Country Music Association Top Selling Album albums