"Wide Open Spaces" is a song written by
Susan Gibson and recorded by the 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, ...
group
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 E ...
. It was released in August 1998 as the third single and title track from the band's album ''
Wide Open Spaces''.
The song hit number one on the
U.S. Country singles chart and spent four weeks there in November 1998.
It also placed to number 41 on the
U.S. Pop singles chart.
In 2001, the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
placed "Wide Open Spaces" at number 259 on its 365
Songs of the Century
The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America's musical and ...
list. In 2003,
CMT named it number 22 in its 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music list.
History
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...
-based
Susan Gibson wrote the song's first lyrics in 1993, on her first visit back home after leaving for
forestry school at the
University of Montana
The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...
.
She left the notebook containing the lyrics at home by mistake when she returned to school; her mother found it and included it in a
care package, inspiring Gibson to complete a song along the themes of leaving home.
She first performed it in local clubs around the University of Montana, where it was sometimes requested.
By the late 1990s, Gibson was lead singer of the
alt country
Alt or ALT may refer to:
Abbreviations for words
* Alt account, an alternative online identity also known as a sock puppet account
* Alternate character, in online gaming
* Alternate route, type of highway designation
* Alternating group, mathema ...
band The Groobees.
[ p. 66] They recorded an album, ''Wayside'', that included "Wide Open Spaces"
and which would be released in 1999. It was
produced by
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 ...
, father of new Chicks lead singer
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 ...
.
Lloyd Maines identified with the tale of a daughter leaving home, and thought it would match Natalie's vocal character well; he brought the song to the group,
who tested it in concert a few times to a strong response.
Both the Chicks and
Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
agreed with Lloyd Maines' assessment, not only recording it but making it the title tune of the Maines-era group's first album as well.
The youthful, romantic, adventurous sense of independence featured in "Wide Open Spaces" helped key much of the group's new image; it thus became one of their
signature song
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...
s and proved very popular among young teenage girls.
The lyric speaks of possibilities yet undiscovered:
:She needs wide open spaces,
:Room to make her big mistakes
:She needs new faces —
:She knows the high stakes
The lyric has been considered an exemplar of the songwriting strategy in which lines are not repeated in either the verses or chorus. The Texas,
bluegrass-flavored arrangement
in the recording begins with a
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
riff, with the band soon joining in. Verses are sung by
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 ...
by herself, with
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
, and soft
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
and
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
carrying the accompaniment. Choruses feature sisters
Emily Strayer and
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 ...
backing Maines with
harmony vocals
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chora ...
, and also add a
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
line. The instrumental break features Strayer and Seidel on
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
and fiddle respectively. The main fiddle riff then brings the recording to a close.
Emily Strayer was proud that the group's hits such as this were still able to incorporate the banjo, an instrument the Nashville establishment often frowned upon as being too hillbilly. Susan Gibson and "Wide Open Spaces" has been considered an example of the influence of the
West Texas
West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio.
No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...
influence in country music songwriting; Gibson herself considers Amarillo to be "where the wide open spaces are. Amarillo has the most beautiful sunsets."
Gibson's childhood family drives from Amarillo to
Missoula, Montana
Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
, also trace the song's lyric and settings.
The song gained Nashville respect, as it was named the
Country Music Association Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...
Single of the Year in 1999.
It also won Gibson the ''
American Songwriter
''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
History
The ''American Songwri ...
'' Professional Country Songwriter of the Year award in early 2000,
as well as a
BMI award the previous year.
Although the song itself was not nominated for a
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 pres ...
(the album was, as was its previous single, "
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 ...
", both of which won in their categories), it was included on the various artists ''
1999 Grammy Nominees''
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
.
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for "Wide Open Spaces" portrayed the Chicks in a
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
setting, cavorting through wide open fields of
wildflowers and the like. Interspersed were scenes of the then-all blonde Chicks on tour: in performance, backstage, and on their tour bus (the last showing the slogan "Ain't Skeerd" on the outside). The performance was filmed at
West Fest, an annual event in
Winter Park, Colorado
Winter Park is a home rule municipality in Grand County, Colorado, United States. The permanent population was 999 at the 2010 census, although with 2,572 housing units within the town limits the seasonal population can be much higher.
It is ho ...
[Dickerson, James L. (2000) ''Dixie Chicks: Down-Home and Backstage''. Taylor Trade Publishing, Dallas, Texas. . pp. 108–109.] where the Chicks appeared four years running.
The mountain scenes were done around Winter Park as well, and included background shots of some of the Chicks exercising their
trampoline
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled spring (device), springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. ...
talents. It was directed by Thom Oliphant, who previously directed "There's Your Trouble," and would later co-direct "Without You."
This effort was directed by Thom Oliphant,
and was named the
Country Music Association Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...
Music Video of the Year in 1999. It was placed at #32 on
CMT's 2004 ranking of the 100 Greatest Videos.
Chart positions
Year-end charts
Certifications
Legacy
The commercial success of the single and album gave songwriter Gibson something of a windfall, which she celebrated by going to
San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos ( ) is a city and the county seat of Hays County, Texas, United States. The city's limits extend into Caldwell and Guadalupe Counties, as well. San Marcos is within the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area and on the Interstate 35 ...
and buying gifts for everyone she knew.
[ p. 22.] She would later say the song was both innocent and personal for her, in the latter detailed so much that she was surprised another artist would relate to it.
She would say of the song's recording by the Chicks that it was "beautiful
ith
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is immediatel ...
stunning musicianship and very professional production ...
gorgeous recording."
And of the song's popularity, Gibson would say, "So much of the success of that song belongs to
he Chicks... but pairing that song with that group is what made 'Wide Open Spaces' what it is. It really was just a magical combination of right place, right time, right group. I'm glad it happened to me."
"Wide Open Spaces" has been a constant on the Chicks' concert tours, and indeed was the only song from ''Wide Open Spaces'' still in the
set list
A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance.
A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
as of the 2006
Accidents & Accusations Tour. The ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' said that in one such 2006 performance, in light of the still-ongoing
Chicks political controversy, "songs like 'Wide Open Spaces' ..., about women leaving home and striking out on their own, sounded more than ever like mission statements." It remained on the playlist during the
DCX MMXVI World Tour
The DCX MMXVI World Tour was the fifth headlining concert tour from American country music trio Dixie Chicks. It started on April 16, 2016, in Antwerp, Belgium and finished on April 18, 2017, in London, Ontario, Canada. This tour is the first t ...
. Gibson also continues to perform it at her live performance outings.
The song appears on the game ''
Karaoke Revolution
''Karaoke Revolution'' and its sequels are video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360, developed by Harmonix and Blitz Games and published by Konami in its Bemani line of music games. The Original Conce ...
'' edition ''
CMT presents Karaoke Revolution Country''. An introspective interpretation by the artist
Soccer Mommy
Sophia Regina Allison (born May 27, 1997), better known by her stage name Soccer Mommy, is an American singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee.
History
Born in Zürich, Switzerland in 1997 to Michelle, an elementary school teacher, and Jo ...
has gained some media attention. That singer said in 2018, "I'm a huge Dixie Chicks fan. I think 'Wide Open Spaces' is one of those perfect '90s alt-country songs. Plus it's relatable to any girl who's moved away from home and had to start a new life somewhere."
"Reflective ..."
NPR, October 11, 2018, L. McKenna
The Song was used in Series Two Episode 5 of the British Sitcom Gavin And Stacey when Bryn West (Rob Brydon) gave his sister-in-law Gwen West (Melanie Walters) a surprise barn dance birthday party
References
External links
NPR essay on personal impact as signature song
Billboard assessment 20 years later
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wide Open Spaces (Song)
1998 singles
1998 songs
The Chicks songs
Song recordings produced by Blake Chancey
Song recordings produced by Paul Worley
Monument Records singles