Sacred Ground (song)

"Sacred Ground"
Single by Kix Brooks
from the album Kix Brooks
B-side "The Story of My Life"
Released 1989
Format 7"
Genre Country
Length 2:51
Label Capitol 44275
Writer(s) Kix Brooks, Vernon Rust
Producer(s) Rafe VanHoy
Kix Brooks
Kix Brooks singles chronology
"Baby, When Your Heart Breaks Down"
(1983)
"Sacred Ground"
(1989)
"New to This Town"
(2012)

"Sacred Ground" is a country music song, co-written and originally recorded by American singer Kix Brooks, prior to his joining Ronnie Dunn in the duo Brooks & Dunn. Brooks' version was issued in 1989 as a single, and was included on his 1989 self-titled debut album.

A second version was recorded three years later by the country band McBride & the Ride. Released in 1992, that version would become the group's highest-charting hit, reaching a peak of #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts.

Content

"Sacred Ground" is a mid-tempo ballad centralizing on a male narrator, who is talking to another man that wants to commit adultery with the narrator's wife.[1] In the first verse, the singer tells of how he married at an early age, and had to work various jobs to sustain his family. He defends his relationship with his wife in the chorus: "We were joined in the eyes of the Lord in the eyes of our hometown / Why don't you leave her alone / You're treadin' on sacred ground".

Kix Brooks version

Kix Brooks' version was released in 1989. It was the second and final single from his debut album Kix Brooks, and it reached a peak of 87 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. It was his last solo release before he founded Brooks & Dunn with Ronnie Dunn. Brooks did not chart another solo single until "New to This Town" in 2012.

Chart positions

Chart (1989) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 87


McBride & the Ride version

"Sacred Ground"
Single by McBride & the Ride
from the album Sacred Ground
B-side "Your One and Only"
Released March 2, 1992
Format CD single
Genre Country
Length 3:18
Label MCA
Producer(s) Steve Gibson
Tony Brown
McBride & the Ride singles chronology
"Same Old Star"
(1991)
"Sacred Ground"
(1992)
"Going Out of My Mind"
(1992)

Three years after Brooks's version charted, McBride & the Ride recorded its own version of "Sacred Ground." It was released in March 1992 as the lead-off single to the band's second album, also titled Sacred Ground. The song reached a peak of #2 on the Billboard country charts (having been blocked from Number One by Billy Ray Cyrus' debut single "Achy Breaky Heart"[1]), representing the band's highest chart peak.

Music video

The music video was directed by Bill Young and premiered in early 1992.

Chart positions

Chart (1992) Peak
position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[2] 2
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[3] 2

Year-end charts

Chart (1992) Position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[4] 39
US Country Songs (Billboard)[5] 44


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "McBride & the Ride Remount" (HTML). cmt.com. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  2. "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 2170." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. June 27, 1992. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  3. "McBride & the Ride Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot Country Songs for McBride & the Ride.
  4. "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1992". RPM. December 19, 1992. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  5. "Best of 1992: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 1992. Retrieved August 15, 2013.