Wide Open Spaces

Wide Open Spaces is the fourth studio album and the major label debut of American country music band Dixie Chicks. It was their first record with new lead vocalist Natalie Maines, 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,[6] while spending more than six years in the Australian ARIA music charts Country Top 20.

Wide Open Spaces
Studio album by Dixie Chicks
Released	January 23, 1998[1]
Recorded	March – August 1997
Genre	Country
Length	43:39
Label	Monument
Producer	Blake Chancey Paul Worley
Dixie Chicks chronology
Shouldn't a Told You That (1993) Wide Open Spaces (1998) Fly (1999)
Singles from Wide Open Spaces
"I Can Love You Better" Released: October 27, 1997 "There's Your Trouble" Released: March 30, 1998 "Wide Open Spaces" Released: August 17, 1998 "You Were Mine" Released: December 7, 1998 "Tonight the Heartache's on Me" Released: April 12, 1999

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[3]
Los Angeles Times	[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]

At the 41st Grammy Awards, the album was awarded two Grammy Awards out of three nominations.[7] It was awarded Best Country Album (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 in 2007) and for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the song "There's Your Trouble". This is an award the Chicks would win five times: in 2000 for "Ready to Run", in 2003 for "Long Time Gone", in 2005 for "Top of the World" and 2007 for "Not Ready to Make Nice", a feat only matched by The Judds. In addition, the Chicks were nominated for Best New Artist in 1999.

"Once You've Loved Somebody" had previously been recorded by John & Audrey Wiggins 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 format.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Can Love You Better"	Pamela Brown Hayes Kostas	3:53
2.	"Wide Open Spaces"	Susan Gibson	3:44
3.	"Loving Arms"	Tom Jans	3:37
4.	"There's Your Trouble"	Mark Selby Tia Sillers	3:10
5.	"You Were Mine"	Emily Strayer Martie Maguire	3:37
6.	"Never Say Die"	George Ducas Radney Foster	3:56
7.	"Tonight the Heartache's on Me"	Mary W. Francis Johnny MacRae Bob Morrison	3:25
8.	"Let 'Er Rip"	Billy Crain Sandy Ramos	2:49
9.	"Once You've Loved Somebody"	Thom McHugh Bruce Miller	3:28
10.	"I'll Take Care of You"	J. D. Souther	3:40
11.	"Am I the Only One (Who's Ever Felt This Way)"	Maria McKee	3:25
12.	"Give It Up or Let Me Go"	Bonnie Raitt	4:55
Total length:			43:39

Personnel

Compiled from liner notes.[8]

Dixie Chicks Natalie Maines – vocals Emily Erwin – acoustic guitar, banjo, Dobro, vocals Martie Seidel – fiddle, mandolin, vocals Additional personnel Mark Casstevens – acoustic guitar Bobby Charles, Jr. – bass guitar Joe Chemay – bass guitar Billy Crain – acoustic guitar Lloyd Maines – steel guitar George Marinelli – electric guitar Greg Morrow – 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 – piano, Hammond organ Billy Joe Walker, Jr. – acoustic guitar, electric guitar Paul Worley – acoustic guitar, electric guitar

Technical Chuck Ainlay - mixing on "Give It Up or Let Me Go" Jim Burnett - Pro Tools editing Blake Chancey - production Don Cobb - digital editing Carlos Grier - digital editing John Guess - mixing Eric Legg - recording Denny Purcell - mastering Billy Sherrill - recording on "Give It Up or Let Me Go" Paul Worley - production

Accolades

Organization	Nominee / work	Award	Result	Ref.
Academy of Country Music Awards	Wide Open Spaces	Album of the Year	Won	[9]
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards		Favorite Duo or Group - Country	Won	[10]
Academy of Country Music Awards		Album of the Year	Won	[11]
Canadian Country Music Association		Top Selling Album of the Year	Won	[12]
Country Music Association Awards	"Wide Open Spaces"	Single of the Year	Won	[13]
		Music Video of the Year	Won
CMT Music Awards	Wide Open Spaces	Album of the Year	Nominated	[14]
Grammy Awards		Best Country Album	Won	[15]
	"There's Your Trouble"	Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal	Won
Radio Music Awards	"Wide Open Spaces"	Country Song of the Year	Won	[16][17]
TNN/Music City Awards	Wide Open Spaces	Album of the Year	Nominated	[18][19]

Charts

Album Chart (1998–1999) Peak position U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 1 U.S. Billboard 200 4 U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers 3 Canadian RPM Country Albums 1 Canadian RPM Top Albums 16 Singles Year Single Peak chart positions US Country US CAN Country 1997 "I Can Love You Better" 7 77 3 1998 "There's Your Trouble" 1 36 3 "Wide Open Spaces" 1 41 1 1999 "You Were Mine" 1 34 1 "Tonight the Heartache's on Me" 6 46 4 Other charted songs Year Single Peak positions US Country 1999 "Let 'Er Rip" 64 End of decade charts Chart (1990–1999) Position U.S. Billboard 200[20] 43

Certifications

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Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[21]	3× Platinum	210,000
Canada (Music Canada)[22]	4× Platinum	400,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[23]	Gold	100,000^^
United States (RIAA)[24]	13× Platinum	13,000,000
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

• List of best-selling albums in the United States

References

1. Official Dixie Chicks Site Archived June 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Wide Open Spaces – Dixie Chicks". AllMusic. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
3. Christgau, Robert (2000). "Dixie Chicks: Wide Open Spaces". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
4. "Top Pop Albums". Los Angeles Times. December 3, 1998. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
5. Harris, Keith (2004). "Dixie Chicks". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 245. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
6. RIAA Diamond Awards Archived 2007-07-01 at the Wayback Machine
7. Collins, Roger. "Dixie Chicks". Iomusic News. Archived from the original on 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
8. Wide Open Spaces (CD booklet). Dixie Chicks. Monument Records. 1997. 68195.CS1 maint: others (link)
9. "CMT : ACM Awards : Archive : 1998". www.cmt.com. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
10. Staff, Variety (9 May 2000). "Blockbuster Entertainment Award winners". Variety. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
11. "2009 ACM Awards". Academy of Country Music Awards. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
12. "Past Award Winners - Canadian Country Music Association". www.ccma.org. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
13. "CMT : CMA Awards : Archive : 1999 : Country Music Association". www.cmt.com. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
14. "CMT Launches Flameworthy Video Music Awards - Corus Entertainment". Corus Entertainment. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
15. "Rock On The Net: 41st Annual Grammy Awards - 1999". www.rockonthenet.com. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
16. "Big winners at The WB Radio Music Awards | Time Warner Inc". Time Warner. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
17. "THE WB RADIO MUSIC AWARDS airs tomorrow with live performances spanning the entire contemporary music spectrum | Time Warner Inc". Time Warner. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
18. "Nashville Music News - TNN Awards 1999". www.oocities.org. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
19. "TNN Music City News Country Awards Nominees". issues.louisvillemusicnews.net. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
20. Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
21. "ARIA Accreditations 2020 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
22. "Canadian album certifications – Dixie Chicks – Wide Open Spaces". Music Canada.
23. "British album certifications – Dixie Chicks – Wide Open Spaces". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Wide Open Spaces in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
24. "American album certifications – The Chicks – Wide Open Spaces". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.