Dixie Chicks Revisited: Wide Open Spaces

May 5, 2016 Kevin John Coyne 11

Released in 1998, Wide Open Spaces established the Dixie Chicks as superstars right out of the gate. It produced five top ten hits, including three #1 singles, and sold more than twelve million copies in the United States alone. It remains their biggest selling album to date. But is it among their best?

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The Twenty Best Albums of 1994

December 26, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 5

As 2014 comes to a close, the Country Universe staff has been collectively impressed by the number of quality albums that were released this year.  How many of those albums, however, will we still be

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Best Singles of 1994, Part 4: #10-#1

December 16, 2014 Kevin John Coyne 20

The countdown concludes with a wide range of classics, including breakthrough hits, signature songs, and exciting later career gems from long-established icons of the genre. #10 “(Who Says) You Can’t Have it All” Alan Jackson

400 Greatest Singles of the Nineties: #200-#176

August 2, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 25

The hits come from all over the place here. Breakthrough hits from Trace Adkins and Carlene Carter join one-hit wonders Brother Phelps and George Ducas. And alongside crafty covers of songs by sixties rock band The Searchers and nineties country artist Joy Lynn White, you can also find tracks from three diamond-selling country albums.

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Forgotten Hits: George Ducas, “Lipstick Promises”

February 23, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 7

Lipstick Promises
George Ducas
1994
Peak: #9
Written by George Ducas and Tia Sellers

One hit wonders were once an anomaly in country music. The nineties changed that, as the massive commercial success of the genre inspired more labels to get into the game. The result was more artists than country radio could ever play regularly, so even a breakthrough top ten hit was no longer enough to get radio to automatically give the next single a shot.

George Ducas was one of the earliest casualties of this new era. With a voice like Dwight Yoakam with a touch of Raul Malo, Ducas showed tremendous promise as a singer-songwriter. There’s a beautiful melancholy to his performance of “Lipstick Promises.” It’s the tale of a man who has been blinded by beauty and ends up being burned by his unfaithful lover.