"Sacred Ground" is a country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 song, co-written and originally recorded by American singer Kix Brooks

Kix Brooks

Leon Eric "Kix" Brooks III , is an American country music artist, best known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn.-Early life:...

, prior to his joining Ronnie Dunn

Ronnie Dunn

Ronnie Gene Dunn is an American country music singer-songwriter, known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn. In 2011, Dunn began working as a solo artist following the breakup of Brooks & Dunn...

 in the duo Brooks & Dunn

Brooks & Dunn

Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

. Brooks' version was issued in 1989 as a single, and was included on his 1989 self-titled debut album

Kix Brooks (album)

Kix Brooks is the solo debut album by American country music artist Kix Brooks. It was released on Capitol Records in 1989, two years before he joined Ronnie Dunn in the duo Brooks & Dunn. The album was re-released in 1993 on compact disc via Liberty Records...

.

A second version was recorded three years later by the country band McBride & the Ride

McBride & the Ride

McBride & the Ride was an American country music band initially composed of Terry McBride , Ray Herndon and Billy Thomas . The group was founded in 1989 through the assistance of record producer Tony Brown...

. Released in 1992, that version would become the group's highest-charting hit, reaching a peak of #2 on the U.S. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

) 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

Adultery

Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...

 on the narrator's wife. 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

Kix Brooks (album)

Kix Brooks is the solo debut album by American country music artist Kix Brooks. It was released on Capitol Records in 1989, two years before he joined Ronnie Dunn in the duo Brooks & Dunn. The album was re-released in 1993 on compact disc via Liberty Records...

, and it reached a peak of #87 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 charts. Although Brooks never charted any solo singles afterward, he joined Ronnie Dunn

Ronnie Dunn

Ronnie Gene Dunn is an American country music singer-songwriter, known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn. In 2011, Dunn began working as a solo artist following the breakup of Brooks & Dunn...

 in the duo Brooks & Dunn

Brooks & Dunn

Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

 in 1991.

Chart positions

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

McBride & the Ride version

Three years after Brooks's version charted, McBride & the Ride

McBride & the Ride

McBride & the Ride was an American country music band initially composed of Terry McBride , Ray Herndon and Billy Thomas . The group was founded in 1989 through the assistance of record producer Tony Brown...

 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

Billy Ray Cyrus

William "Billy" Ray Cyrus is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist, who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon...

' debut single "Achy Breaky Heart

Achy Breaky Heart

"Achy Breaky Heart" is a hit country music song written by Don Von Tress. Originally titled "Don't Tell My Heart", its name was later changed to "Achy Breaky Heart" and was recorded by Billy Ray Cyrus on his 1992 album Some Gave All. As Cyrus' debut single and signature song, it made him famous and...

"), representing the band's highest chart peak.

Chart positions

Chart (1992)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	2
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	2