Wide Open Spaces

Album: Wide Open Spaces (1998)
Charted: 41
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was written by Susan Gibson, who was lead singer of a Texas-based band called The Groobees. She wrote the tune back in 1993 in a spirit of rebellion during her first return home from the University of Montana for Christmas break. "My mom probably said something like, 'What time did you get home last night, honey?' Whatever it was rubbed me the wrong way," Gibson told The Montanan. "I sat down at the kitchen table and wrote furiously for twelve minutes, and then I went and did something else. I forgot all about it."

    The lyrics were so specific to Gibson's own experience, including lines about her dad warning her to check the oil in her car, she was hesitant about giving away such a personal song. Then she heard the Dixie Chicks' version: "It made me bawl my eyes out. It was so beautiful—it had this stunning musicianship and very professional production. I could still see my handwriting on the page, and here was this gorgeous recording of it."

    Lloyd Maines, father of Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines, worked with The Groobees, and brought the song to the Chicks. The Groobees recorded their version in 1999. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Mark - Wee Waa, Australia
  • Thom Oliphant helmed the music video, which intercuts touring footage with the girls singing in open fields of wildflowers as well as performing at Winter Park, Colorado's annual West Fest. In a Songfacts interview, Oliphant recalled: "That song probably moved them from big clubs to arenas over the course of that year, so we were just out documenting.

    A lot of that stuff was shot without a clock ticking. You're on a bus and we would shoot some stuff, and then it all was woven together with a couple of big days of shooting out around Denver. It made it look like it was all about the same time, but it wasn't."
  • The video was named the Country Music Association's Video of the Year in 1999.
  • The Groobees broke up a couple of years after this became a hit, partly because they couldn't agree on how to handle the success. Susan Gibson, who collected the bulk of the royalties as the tune's sole writer, explained in Lone Star Music Magazine: "We were once a unified band with nothing to lose and all struggling in the same direction. Some band members thought that the success of that song meant that we could afford to take those crappy-paying, but good-exposure gigs. Others thought it meant we didn't have to. That discrepancy resulted in each of us taking our own piece of the pie and going forward in our different directions."
  • Gibson has since carved a career for herself as a solo artist, but still delights in hearing fans talk about the song: "Because the Dixie Chicks made that song so huge, I have enjoyed the look on people's faces when they hear that I wrote that song. About 80 percent of the time, somebody has a cool story attached to it about leaving home, getting married, getting divorced, and breaking down in Moab, Utah. 19 percent of the time it's like, 'Oh! My mom loooooves that song!' And there's 1 percent out there that are like, 'I don't really listen to music.' That's OK. It's the stories that I hear back from people that put a face to the huge numbers associated with that song."
  • This spent four weeks at #1 on the country chart.
  • Wide Open Spaces earned a Grammy Award for Best Country Album in 1999.

Comments: 9

  • Camille from Toronto, OhA most excellent song, reminds me of my wonderful niece who'd recently graduated from high school & was getting ready to head off to college when this song was popular. This song just seemed to capture what she would experience. The Dixie Chicks have that unusual vocal sound that's always appealed to me. And I'll take an outspoken, opinionated person over someone who refuses to stand up for what they believe in because it'll ruin their career ANY DAY!
  • Bob from Roseville, CoHe who will not reason,is a bigot;he who cannot,is a fool;and he who dare's not,is a slave.
  • Wade from Katy, TxI don't mind them saying what they think. I just don't think that they should be winning Grammies for something that they said.

    Because really... Not Ready To Make Nice isn't that great of a song.
  • Cory from Morden, CanadaThey are practically HEROES in Canada, let me tell you. We love them more than ever up here, because most of us dislike "Dubya" up here, too...
  • Stb from South Lyon, MiI think the Dixie Chicks have a right to their opinion, and i'm with them on this one. About the rednecks one, i'm not so sure. I love country music and i think a part of it is that not ONLY guys or ONLY girls sing it like other genres of music. The Dixie Chicks add to the country music and i don't think we should punish them for speaking their minds
  • Bob from St Louis, MoContrary to what some people would have you believe, they still have a lot of fans in the States, too. It takes courage and integrity to say something contoversial and stand by it because you really believe it and they have indeed done that. They make great music, too!
  • Mark from Wee Waa, AustraliaThey have plenty fans in OZ
  • Mark from Wee Waa, AustraliaI agree with what the Dixie chicks said about Bush, look at the death count to American soldiers since they have been in Iraq, and tell their families that the Dixies where wrong. As far as Country fans being rednecks the jury still out on that one. I like the new song, got the CD petty good.
  • Jillian from Portland, TxHonestly, with that new song of theirs, they really are pushing their limits.

    With their crack over President Bush, they should have been totally outcasted.

    Now, I'm very surprised that a riot didn't break out when they said their latest comment.

    Something about Country fans being rednecks.

    Oh hell no.
see more comments

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