Rating:
Genre:
Country
Release Date: 01/27/1998
Run Time: 43:39
The
Dixie Chicks spent the first half of the '90s toiling away on the independent
bluegrass circuit, releasing three albums on small labels, before sisters
Martie Seidel and
Emily Robison decided to revamp their sound in 1995, adding
Natalie Maines as their lead singer and, in the process, moving the group away from
bluegrass and toward a major label with
Sony/Columbia's revived
Monument Records imprint. All of this seems like the blueprint for a big
pop crossover move and, to be sure, their 1998 major-label debut
Wide Open Spaces was a monumental success, selling over ten million copies and turning the group into superstars, but the remarkable thing about the album is that it's most decidedly not a sell-out, or even a consciously
country-pop record. To be sure, there are
pop melodies here, but this isn't a
country-pop album in the vein of Shania Twain, a record that's big on style and glitz, designed for a mass audience. Instead,
Wide Open Spaces pulls from several different sources -- the
Chicks'
Americana roots, to be sure, but also bits of the
alt country from
kd lang and
Lyle Lovett, '70s
soft rock (any album that features versions of songs by
J.D. Souther and
Bonnie Raitt surely fits this bill), even the female neo-folkies emerging on the
adult alternative rock stations at the end of the decade. In other words, it hit a sweet spot, appealing to many different audiences because it was eclectic without being elitist but they also had a true star in
Natalie Maines, whose powerful, bluesy voice gave these songs a compelling center.
Maines was versatile, too, negotiating the twists and turns of these songs without a hitch, easily moving from the vulnerability of
"You Were Mine" to the snarl of
"Give It Up or Let Me Go." The same goes for the
Dixie Chicks and
Wide Open Spaces as a whole: they are as convincing on the sprightly opener
"I Can Love You Better" or the bright, optimistic title song as they are on the breezy
"There's Your Trouble" as they are on the
honky tonk shuffle of
"Tonight the Heartache's on Me" and the rocking swagger of
"Let 'Er Rip." It's a remarkably wide range and it's effortlessly eclectic, with the
Dixie Chicks bringing it all together with their attitude and understated musicality -- as debuts go (and this does count as a debut), they rarely get better than this.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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