Wide Open Spaces (1998)
Rating: 7/10
Now headin' into Spice Country.
So what the hell is New Country anyway? Is it Shania Twain's unabashed courting of pop divahood while Garth Brooks sells his 18th billion record? Or is it the likes of 16 Horsepower and the Willard Grant Conspiracy serving up the kind of heartache and hellfire unheard of in C&W since Hank Williams Snr. and Gram Parsons rode off into that big ghost-haunted cemetary in the sky? Maybe some people actually worry about the future of country music... but I'm pretty sure the couple million people who've made the Dixie Chicks' WIDE OPEN SPACES country music's biggest-selling cross-over album right now couldn't care less. There's nothing mystifying about this album's broad appeal: a strong voice singing a catchy song is the oldest formula in the perennial book.
Which is not to say that there's nothing more to the Dixie Chicks. There's that name to begin with, which is really just like the country version of the Spice Girls, isn't it? But while the Spice Girls exploit the empty-headed flash and garishness of Pop, the Dixie Chicks have taken at least one good cue from traditional Country & Western - the recognition that sometimes less is more, a direction especially refreshing when country music today seems inundated with overwrought delivery (stand up Grammy Award winner LeAnn Rimes) and theatrics (your turn, Mr Brooks).
Singer Natalie Maines' voice is probably the best thing about the Dixie Chicks - it's strong but never strident, as capable of hay-stompin', square-dancin' fun as it is of the kind of warm, soulful character that accompanies restraint. And while the songs on WIDE OPEN SPACES are for the most part love songs, and about as conservative as something you'd hear from Reba McIntire or The Judds, what also sets this album apart from your run-of-the-mill C&W offering is the Chicks' attitude and approach, following in the footsteps of Bonnie Raitt and Shawn Colvin by avoiding the worst cliches of latter-day C&W and then incoporating as a component of the whole the genre's basic musical elements.
WIDE OPEN SPACES is neither ground-breaking nor terribly original, and it certainly isn't going to change anyone's opinion of country music, but it does have a bunch of songs which are, like the Dixie Chicks themselves, fun, likeable and great to sing along to.
Gerald Tan 1998
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FROM: danajeanr@hotmail.com (Dana Ransom)
FROM: Juicypeach@hotmail.com (Jody)
FROM: djwiebe@portage.net (Jodi)
FROM: brat_link@hotmail.com (Natasha)
FROM: fisherderek@hotmail.com (Derek Fisher)
FROM: pjordan8@compuserve.com (Jennifer Jordan)
FROM: vachick2@yahoo.com (Diana Stennett)
FROM: Vanilla325 (Andrea Cornett)
FROM: JuJuBeeen@aol.com (Julia)
FROM: jjctennis (Brad )
FROM: Ate A Fly@aol.com (Jessica)
FROM: dhirai@cgocable.net (dave)
FROM: callie85@aol.com (lindsay rose)
FROM: poohneiore@aol.com (audrey)
FROM: jrhearttx@aol.com (Jennifer and Tyler)
FROM: goldeigh@aol.com (Tracy)
FROM: vbrulinski (chelsea)
FROM: psands@mindspring.com (philip sands)
FROM: dwatchmn@hotmail.com (lyle)
FROM: Alana86882@aol.com (Alana Clark)
DATE: Fri, 12 Feb 1999
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: All I can say is that the Dixie Chics are... AWESOME!!!!! Obviously you can
tell I'm an 18 year-old girl, huh? The Dixie Chics are a real inspiration to
me, as I plan on living in Nashville for awhile, after I get a degree in
composition. I would like to do some song writing and back-up singing.
But that's not what this little space is for, huh?
This is a good review, but not very sure about itself. Why can't you just say
that...theyr're
AWESOME??!!?
DATE: Sat, 9 Jan 1999
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I think they're pretty cool. As long as they keep cussing and sex out of their
music, they'll do fine!
DATE: Mon, 11 Jan 1999
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I think the Dixie Chicks are great and contrary to the this review I also think
they are very
original! They are not the normal Country music that all the radio stations are
playing, I
would classify them as more of a Blue Grass sound. Natalie Maines has an
extremly
unique sound that is only amplified by the talents of Emily Erwin and Martie
Seidel. I'm
sure these ladies are going to be around for the long haul!
DATE: Sat, 9 Jan 1999
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I think it's a great album. The girls have
"revived" country music. The have some new
stuff of their own yet also take time to
remember the ones who started it all.
DATE: Fri, 8 Jan 1999
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I beg to differ that this album is just satifactory. The incorporation of the
old style banjo and violin have resurected an old idea which was thought by many to be twangy folk music of the past. This trio of ladies have made it clear that they are different and they are new. I had a chance to meet them when they played a concert here in my home town of Calgary Alberta. I had the benefit of receiving these girls autograph.
I notcied that they were extremely fan orientated which other groups such as the SPICE GIRLS look to be caught up in their "girl power" stardum.
THANX FOR LISTENING
An concerned and big Dixie Chicks fan,
DEREK FISHER
DATE: Wed, 6 Jan 1999
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I thought your review was right that - noone will probably change their view
about country music based on this album. However, I think with all types of
other negative messages in music today, that the Chicks provide a nice upbeat, &
positive sound, which I feel is a message worth listening to!!!
DATE: Sat, 2 Jan 1999
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: How dare you! Being a new fan of the Countrymusic scean, I deeply respect the
fresh new faces and sounds of todays new country act. Who are you to say that their
album isn't "ground breaking" or "lacks originality"? The Dixie Chicks are nothing like
the Spice Girls futher more the Spice Girls are a bunch of flash-in-the-pans of "pop" music,
like Hanson and New Kids on the Block. They have the staying power of such country greats like Garth Brooks and Reba. Your review of WIDE OPEN SPACES was a disgrace to all country
music fans and singers. I love every honkey tonk song like "Tonight the Heartache's
on Me" to the soulful ballads of "You Were Mine" and "Once You've Loved Somebody".
DATE: Sat, 2 Jan 1999
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I love the Dixie Chicks! There songs are right from the heart, and are very
straight forward and strongly sung. The lyrics are really cool too. They are
talking about women and how we are independent and are not just going around
looking for a man to take care of us. The Dixie Chicks ROCK!!
DATE: Thu, 31 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I think the Dixie Chicks rock. If you all want to call them "spice girls of
country music" go ahead I only have one thing to say about it YOU GO GIRLS &
more girl power to ya'll!!!
DATE: Wed, 30 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: Whatever jerkface! You must be crazy giving them a 7. Have you listened to their
songs.Come on, they are definetly a 10 and no less. They are the most
entertaining concert I have ever been to. your review really did not impress me
much.
DATE: Tue, 29 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I am a big fan of the Dixie Chicks, and I love every single one of their songs
on the WIDE OPEN SPACES album. I fell in love with the cd as soon as I got it
and am waiting for the day that they come someplace near me so I can go to one
of their concerts. What I really hate, though, is that there is always someone
somewhere focusing on the "old Dixie Chics" instead of the three women who
currently make up the group. As far as I'm concerned, these 3 current women are
THE REAL Dixie Chicks because they're the ones who are making the music now and
they're the ones who are working on the albums. Dixie Chicks are becoming very
big, and they're going to the top!!!
DATE: Sun, 27 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: Stunning...music, looks, talent. Convinced my 6 year old to sway from
Spice Girls by telling her these were the country spice girls. She is
certainly converted to the real music. Sings the songs while I play and sing
backup.
Also didn't believe a girl should play banjo (not any more)
DATE: Sat, 26 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: hey....i think that the dixie chicks are the best band on the face of this
earth!! natalie maines is my role model..shes everything i wanna be when i am
older!! i love the dixie chicks and my prayers are with them!!
lindsay rose (im gonna be famous)
DATE: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I just want to let the chicks now that im glad that they came out with this
album it really describes alot of my life and alot of my mother-in-laws life.
Thanks a billion. oh yeah merry christmas:)
DATE: Wed, 16 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: Hi...I am actually writing for my 5 year old nephew who is mad about the Dixie Chicks. In fact, I often can turn the tape player down and hear him articulate nearly every lyric of each song on the tape. He told me last night that he wished he could meet the Dixie Chicks....oh what a fan he is. And as for
myself, Wide Open Spaces couldn' t fit my life more appropriately if I had
written it myself. they are truly and inspiration and well, here's to Girl
Power. And to starting my nephews singing career.
DATE: Wed, 16 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: There isn't a song on their album that is not my favorite. Chicks Rule!
DATE: Mon, 14 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: great cd. Best country cd of the year!
DATE: Sat, 5 Dec 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: loved it and every thing they do.
DATE: Mon, 30 Nov 1998
SUBJECT: Dixie Chicks
COMMENTS: I like the song. I do not really like country, but this song is worth listening
to.
DATE: 25/11/98
SUBJECT: Comments
COMMENTS: GREAT ALBUM!!!!!
These girls have alot goin for'em. They should use their talant to make a dozen
albums to come.
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