Wide Open Spaces (song)
Encyclopedia
"Wide Open Spaces" is a country
song from the Dixie Chicks
, written by Susan Gibson
. Appearing as the title song on the band's 1998 album Wide Open Spaces
, it was released as a single in August of that year, and hit number one on the U.S. Country singles chart, spending four weeks there in November 1998. It also placed to number 41 on the U.S. Pop singles chart
. It reached number one on Canada's country music chart, their first chart-topper there and presaging a long history of support for the band.
In 2001, the RIAA placed "Wide Open Spaces" at number 259 on its 365 Songs of the Century
list. In 2003, CMT
named it number 22 in its 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music list.
-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. 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 band The Groobees. They recorded an album, Wayside, that included "Wide Open Spaces" and which would be released in 1999. It was produced
by Lloyd Maines
, father of new Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines
.
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 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
s and proved very popular among young teenage girls. The lyric speaks of possibilities yet undiscovered:
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
riff, with the band soon joining in. Verses are sung by Natalie Maines
by herself, with drums
, fiddle
, and soft guitar
and piano
carrying the accompaniment. Choruses feature sisters Emily Erwin
and Martie Seidel backing Maines with harmony vocals, and also add a banjo
line. The instrumental break features Erwin and Seidel on mandolin
and fiddle respectively. The main fiddle riff then brings the recording to a close.
Emily Erwin 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
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
also trace the song's lyric and settings.
The song gained Nashville respect, as it was named the Country Music Association Awards
Single of the Year in 1999. It also won Gibson the American Songwriter 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 album was, as was its previous single, "There's Your Trouble
", both of which won in their categories), it was included on the various artists 1999 Grammy Nominees compilation album
.
for "Wide Open Spaces" portrayed the Dixie Chicks in a Rocky Mountains
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
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
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
Music Video of the Year in 1999. It was placed at #32 on CMT
's 2004 ranking of the 100 Greatest Videos.
and buying gifts for everyone she knew. 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 [with] stunning musicianship and very professional production ... [a] gorgeous recording." And of the song's popularity, Gibson would say, "So much of the success of that song belongs to [the Dixie 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
as of the 2006 Accidents & Accusations Tour
. The New York Times
said that in one such 2006 performance, in light of the still-ongoing Dixie 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." Gibson also continues to perform it at her live performance outings.
The song appears on the game Karaoke Revolution
edition CMT presents Karaoke Revolution Country.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
song from the Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
, written by Susan Gibson
Susan Gibson
Susan Gibson is a Wimberley, TX based singer-sonwriter who has released four solo albums and tours the nation. Gibson was the lead singer for the alternative country band, The Groobees, and is the writer of the Dixie Chicks hit Wide Open Spaces....
. Appearing as the title song on the band's 1998 album Wide Open Spaces
Wide Open Spaces
Wide Open Spaces is the major label debut of American country music band the Dixie Chicks, and the fourth studio album overall, released in 1998 . It was their first record with new lead vocalist Natalie Maines, and became their breakthrough commercial success...
, it was released as a single in August of that year, and hit number one on the U.S. Country singles chart, spending four weeks there in November 1998. It also placed to number 41 on the U.S. Pop singles chart
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. It reached number one on Canada's country music chart, their first chart-topper there and presaging a long history of support for the band.
In 2001, the RIAA placed "Wide Open Spaces" at number 259 on its 365 Songs of the Century
Songs of the Century
The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America , the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America’s musical and cultural heritage" in American schools...
list. In 2003, CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
named it number 22 in its 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music list.
History
Amarillo, TexasAmarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
-based Susan Gibson
Susan Gibson
Susan Gibson is a Wimberley, TX based singer-sonwriter who has released four solo albums and tours the nation. Gibson was the lead singer for the alternative country band, The Groobees, and is the writer of the Dixie Chicks hit Wide Open Spaces....
wrote the song's first lyrics in 1993, on her first visit back home after leaving for forestry school at the University of Montana. 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
CARE Package
The CARE Package was the original unit of aid distributed by the humanitarian organization CARE...
, 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 band The Groobees. They recorded an album, Wayside, that included "Wide Open Spaces" and which would be released in 1999. It was produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Lloyd Maines
Lloyd Maines
Lloyd Maines is an American Grammy Award-winning country music record producer, musician and songwriter. He was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas and is now based in Bulverde, Texas....
, father of new Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines
Natalie Maines
Natalie Louise Maines Pasdar is an American singer-songwriter who achieved success as the lead vocalist for the female alternative country band, the Dixie Chicks...
.
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 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
Signature song
A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
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
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
-flavored arrangement in the recording begins with a fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
riff, with the band soon joining in. Verses are sung by Natalie Maines
Natalie Maines
Natalie Louise Maines Pasdar is an American singer-songwriter who achieved success as the lead vocalist for the female alternative country band, the Dixie Chicks...
by herself, with drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, and soft guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
carrying the accompaniment. Choruses feature sisters Emily Erwin
Emily Erwin
Emily Robison is an American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and a founding member of the female country band the Dixie Chicks. Robison plays banjo, dobro, guitar, bass, mandolin, accordion, and sitar...
and Martie Seidel backing Maines with harmony vocals, and also add a banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
line. The instrumental break features Erwin and Seidel on mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
and fiddle respectively. The main fiddle riff then brings the recording to a close.
Emily Erwin 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
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
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, Montana
Missoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
also trace the song's lyric and settings.
The song gained Nashville respect, as it was named the Country Music Association Awards
Country Music Association Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards, or the CMAs, and not to be confused with the ACM Awards, are voted on by business members of the Country Music Association. The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967...
Single of the Year in 1999. It also won Gibson the American Songwriter Professional Country Songwriter of the Year award in early 2000, as well as a BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
award the previous year. Although the song itself was not nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
(the album was, as was its previous single, "There's Your Trouble
There's Your Trouble
"There's Your Trouble" is a song made famous by the country music band, the Dixie Chicks. Written by Mark Selby and Tia Sillers, the song was released in 1998 as the second track to the band's fourth album, Wide Open Spaces.-Awards:...
", both of which won in their categories), it was included on the various artists 1999 Grammy Nominees compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Wide Open Spaces" portrayed the Dixie Chicks in a Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
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, Colorado
Winter Park is a Home Rule Municipality in Grand County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 662 at the 2000 census, although tourists and seasonal workers significantly increase the population....
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
Trampoline
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched over a steel frame using many coiled springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes....
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
Country Music Association Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards, or the CMAs, and not to be confused with the ACM Awards, are voted on by business members of the Country Music Association. The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967...
Music Video of the Year in 1999. It was placed at #32 on CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
's 2004 ranking of the 100 Greatest Videos.
Chart positions
| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 41 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
Legacy
The commercial success of the single and album gave songwriter Gibson something of a windfall, which she celebrated by going to San Marcos, TexasSan Marcos, Texas
San Marcos is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and is the seat of Hays County. Located within the metropolitan area, the city is located on the Interstate 35 corridor—between Austin and San Antonio....
and buying gifts for everyone she knew. 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 [with] stunning musicianship and very professional production ... [a] gorgeous recording." And of the song's popularity, Gibson would say, "So much of the success of that song belongs to [the Dixie 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
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
as of the 2006 Accidents & Accusations Tour
Accidents & Accusations Tour
The Accidents & Accusations Tour was a 2006 concert tour by the Dixie Chicks. It was their first tour where tickets were sold after the scandal which ensued in 2003 when lead singer Natalie Maines publicly criticized President George W. Bush at Shepherds Bush Empire in London during the Top of the...
. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said that in one such 2006 performance, in light of the still-ongoing Dixie 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." Gibson also continues to perform it at her live performance outings.
The song appears on the game Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke Revolution and its many sequels are video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360, developed by Harmonix Music Systems and Blitz Games and published by Konami in its Bemani line of music games. The Original Concept for Karaoke Revolution was...
edition CMT presents Karaoke Revolution Country.