"Wide Open Spaces" is a song written by Susan Gibson and recorded by the American country music group Dixie Chicks.

Amarillo, Texas-based Susan Gibson wrote the song's first lyrics in 1993, on her first visit back home after leaving for forestry school at the University of Montana.

Lloyd Maines identified with the tale of a daughter leaving home, and thought it would match Natalie's vocal character well; he brought the song to the group,[6] who tested it in concert a few times to a strong response.

[3] Both the Chicks and Sony Music agreed with Lloyd Maines' assessment, not only recording it but making it the title tune of the Maines-era group's first album as well.

[5][6] The youthful, romantic, adventurous sense of independence featured in "Wide Open Spaces" helped key much of the group's new image; it thus became one of their signature songs and proved very popular among young teenage girls.

Choruses feature sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Seidel backing Maines with harmony vocals, and also add a banjo line.

Emily Strayer was proud that the group's hits such as this were still able to incorporate the banjo, an instrument the Nashville establishment often frowned upon as being too hillbilly.

The performance was filmed at West Fest, an annual event in Winter Park, Colorado[12] where the Chicks appeared four years running.

The commercial success of the single and album gave songwriter Gibson something of a windfall, which she celebrated by going to San Marcos, Texas and buying gifts for everyone she knew.

The New York Times said that in one such 2006 performance, in light of the still-ongoing Chicks political controversy, "songs like 'Wide Open Spaces' ..., about women leaving home and striking out on their own, sounded more than ever like mission statements.