Wide OPen Spaces (Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks)

Member Name: Whizz11

Product:	Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks
Date:	01/04/09 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good introduction to Country, great songs

Disadvantages: None

Wide Open Spaces

If you're looking for a great starter country album then look no further than Wide Open Spaces by The Dixie Chicks. It's a great introduction if you have never really listened to country before and are not really a fan of the old classics yet, like Dolly Parton, etc, but want to experience a bit of the blue grass, country and that whole scene and get into the music. This album offers you upbeat, toe tapping, yee-hawing, classic story telling country with a new modern, sexy twist.

The Dixie Chicks is made up of three females, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Robison. They are the highest grossing female band in the US, selling over 36 million albums as of March 2009! They actually formed in 1989 with a different formation but did not release their debut album, Wide Open Spaces, until 1998.

They have courted controversy in the past. At a 2003 concert, they openly criticised George Bush for his part in the war with Iraq and said that they were ashamed to be from his home state of Texas. Many people took this as an Anti-American slur and boycotted their music, concerts etc. It was a tough time for them but they have seemed to pull through and as of 2008 they have won thirteen Grammy Awards.

Like I said, Wide Open Spaces was their debut album and was released in January 1998. Wide Open Spaces is the title of the second track on the album and a personal favourite of mine, almost a theme song as the words really resonated and meant something to me because it was about that time I moved to America. A sample of the words are as follows:

She needs wide open spaces,
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces;
She knows the high stakes.

These words and the song are said to reflect a youthful yearning for independence and possibilities yet undiscovered and so many of their fans were as a result young women who have stayed with them over the years. I really like what they stand for, strong, young women, making their way in the world, who are entitled to their own opinion and are not afraid to speak it. Future albums have gone onto talk about their troubles after the Bush comments etc and how they have dealt with things. It's great because they all sing on the album as well as playing instruments such as the guitar, banjo, fiddle and mandolin.

When the album was released it entered the top five on both country and pop chart with initial sales of 12 million copies in the country music arena alone, taking the record for the best-selling duo or group album in country music history.

The track listings are as follows:

1. I can Love you Better
2. Wide Open Spaces
3. Loving Arms
4. There's Your Trouble
5. You Were Mine
6. Never Say Die
7. Tonight the Heartache's on Me
8. Let 'Er Rip
9. Once you've Loved Somebody
10. I'll Take Care of You
11. Am I the Only One (Who's Ever Felt This Way?)
12. Give It Up or Let Me Go.

Summary: The Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces