X/Z Song Trader: "Wide Open Spaces"
A Gen X Rocker Discusses Music With His Gen Z Daughter
About X/Z Song Trader: Steve is a music journalist, author and musician. Lucy is a diehard music fan and college student. They have always enjoyed a father/daughter bond over music. Each week one of them picks a song and they both share their perspectives. These are casual conversations based on musical connections. Opinions are their own. Keeping it positive.
Check out the whole X/Z Song Trader series.
Lucy’s Perspective
I used to have a way different perspective on folk/country music.
Although I grew up loving Taylor Swift—especially her first three, most country albums—I always considered actual country music to be pretty far outside my realm of enjoyment. This perspective stayed with me until I started college when I found myself listening to folk music by Noah Kahan, Bon Iver, Lord Huron, and The Lumineers more often, but there still weren’t any true country artists in the mix.
There is a stereotype revolving around country music that all artists that fall under that category support exactly the kind of ‘America’ I do not, and I think, in part, that is what steered me away from it. The Chicks, though, are a pretty outspoken, progressive band that continue to influence the way that women and country music intertwine, especially in modern America.
This past summer one of my best friends got me a CD player for my birthday and made me a mixed CD that combined my favorite songs with some of her biggest recommendations.
One of her songs was “Wide Open Spaces” by The Chicks. Although I had some previous knowledge of this band through mom’s love for folk-y, country music, I had never given it a true chance beyond a passive listen here and there. Quickly, though, this track found its way into my regular mix, and from there a plethora of classic country music did as well.
“Wide Open Spaces” does a great job of not only keeping an upbeat vibe, but also conveying an important message about going out on your own for the first time. The lyrics express how hard it can be to move forward on your own path, but also how vital personal growth and improvement are:
She traveled this road as a child
Wide eyed and grinning, she never tired
But now she won't be coming back with the rest
If these are life's lessons, she'll take this test
I love those lyrics because they exemplify exactly how it feels to grow up. It can truly feel like every moment is leading up to a big test where you have to prove your maturity and independence.
This song quickly became one of my very favorites and I continued to listen to it for the rest of the summer, bringing it back up to school with me in the fall as well. This greatly expanded my musical tastes, opening my eyes to a world of country music that I didn’t know at all before.
I know mom is way more into folk and country music than you, but I wonder how this music feels to you? Does it hold any nostalgia or importance to you?
Steve’s Perspective
This song was hard to avoid when it was released in 1998.
I heard it repeatedly back then, but The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks) was never a band that I spent much time with. I played drums in a glam/punk band in the late ‘90s and was pretty heavily steeped in a lot of that music, but I was also listening to Wilco, Son Volt, Whiskeytown and Mother Hips with your mom.
Like a lot of my other musical tastes, I originally came to country music through the punk door. Roots rock, which sometimes veered into cow punk territory, was an important part of the SoCal scene thanks to X/The Knitters, The Blasters, Blood on the Saddle and others. That music—combined with classic rock influences from The Byrds, The Rolling Stones and even Linda Ronstadt—led me to Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, and Loretta Lynn, among others.
I’ve never really considered myself a true “country fan,” but it’s impossible to deny that genre’s foundational influence on rock music. That said, the kind of arena-oriented “modern country” that exploded in the ‘90s with Garth Brooks and Shania Twain and continues to dominate today has mostly escaped my interest. Right or wrong, I’ve always lumped The Chicks in with all of that music.
The first time I ever really listened to “Wide Open Spaces” was when you chose it for this series.
Storytelling has always been my favorite part of country music and that’s what really jumps out at me about this track. Listening more closely, I understand how relatable these lyrics are for you as a young adult striking out on her own for the first time.
But as your dad? Man, these lines really hit home:
And as her folks drive away, her dad yells, "Check the oil"
Mom stares out the window and says, "I'm leaving my girl"
She said, "It didn't seem like that long ago"
When she stood there and let her own folks knowShe needed wide open spaces…
I’ve always thought of this song as The Chicks’ signature track, so I was surprised to learn that it’s a cover. The songwriter, Susan Gibson, originally wrote (and later recorded) it for her alt country band The Groobees.
I admit to feeling a little challenged by this song choice, but reading your perspective really opened my eyes.
I sometimes tease you about liking modern country music (sorry!), but I honestly love watching your musical tastes expand and evolve. Your genuine love for certain artists and songs, and your over all openness to explore new sounds, is really impressive.
I’m so happy that’s something we get to share and discuss, even when our individual tastes aren’t perfectly aligned. Maybe especially when they don’t align because that gives me the chance to grow too.
A great read, and touching exchange between the two of and, oh man, I really want to recommend more folk-country songs (I'm not really a County fan but came to the genre through singer-songwiters like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark and really love some of the songwriting and storytelling in country music).
Just to throw one out there, this is a song I was obsessed with for a while last year). Gretchen Peters (a great songwriter herself) released an album of covers of Mickey Newbury songs (who? You ask. Good question, I'd heard his name but didn't know many of his songs. You don't need to know his version to appreciate her recording).
In one interview she says, "There was something in his songs that deeply resonated with me . . . that a 19 year old hippie chick from Boulder would find something in this redneck from Houston singing Country music, which I had never really heard until my late teens. Obviously if that happens there's some deeper connection going on."
The title song for the album is, "The Night You Wrote That Song" It isn't a story; it's weird, sometimes tricky to understand and, I think, superb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Punabc8yEWk
The Knitters are so damn good! Sarah Shook and The Disarmers, Lydia Loveless, Scud Mountain Boys, Milk Carton Kids; all great folk/country stuff.