Dixie Chicks Biography

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The Dixie Chicks are a country music trio that formed in 1989 in Dallas, Texas. The band began receiving success in the late 1990's with hits like "Wide Open Spaces", "Cowboy Take Me Away", and "Long Time Gone". They quickly became known for their style, instrumental talent, and outspoken views. Natalie Maines' public criticism of President George W. Bush on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq led to quite a considerable controversy which resulted in a loss of part of their audience, but a gain of a whole new audience.

The early members of the Dixie Chicks were sisters Martie Erwin, Emily Erwin, Laura Lynch, and Robin Lynn Macy. Martie and Emily have since married and their names are now Martie Maguire and Emily Robison. The sisters were the instrumental force as the other two provided vocals. Their sound began as bluegrass and they released their first album, "Thank Heavens for Dale Evans" in 1990. The Dixie Chicks won the best band prize at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and earned opening spots for Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, and George Strait, among others.

In 1991, the group released the Christmas single, "Home on the Radar Range" and followed it with their second album in 1992 with "Little Ol' Cowgirl". Lloyd Maines, steel guitar legend, played on both of these. Robin Lynn Macy left in late 1992. Now in a trio, 1993 brought the release of their third album, "Shouldn't a Told You That" with Lynch as the lead singer and the bluegrass sound pushed to the background. Laura Lynch was replaced in 1995 by Natalie Maines, who is the daughter of the former session player and steel guitar legend, Lloyd Maines. Sony scouted the Chicks and signed them to Monument Records label.

This new lineup consisted of leader Martie on fiddle/mandolin/vocals, Emily on guitar/dobro/banjo/vocals, and Natalie on lead vocals and in concert on guitar. The trio clicked and had a harmonizing sound with the instruments along with Maines voice. In 1997, "I Can Love You Better" single was released and it climbed to the Top 10 of the country chart. "Wide Open Spaces" was released in 1998 and over the next year three singles were released and all hit number one on the country chart. "Wide Open Spaces" sold more than 12 million copies becoming one of the 50 best selling albums in American history.

"Fly" was released in 2000 and nine singles were produced with "Cowboy Take Me Away" as a number one hit and "Without You as a number one hit! "Fly" went on to sell 10 million copies. Revenge epics such as "Goodbye Earl" and "Sin Wagon" both contained thematic elements that caused radio stations to remove them from their playlist, but the Chicks were unapologetic.

"Home" was an independent production that was produced by Lloyd Maines and released in 2002 after the Chicks and Sony reconciled their differences. The album's first single and opening track, "Long Time Gone" attacked country music radio, but despite this it rose to number two on the country chart and the album ended up selling over 6 million copies in the U.S. It was at this time in 2003 that Natalie Maines said between songs during a concert in London: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas". This is when the controversy began and criticism became every day. Maines attempted to clarify matters after the uproar by making another statement about the President, however this failed. She then proceeded to issue an apology although some fans remained angry and encouraged the boycott of Dixie Chicks products and their sponsor Lipton. In an interview with Diane Sawyer over a month later Maines stated she was proud of her original statement. At the first concert of their nationwide Top of the World Tour the Dixie Chicks received a positive welcome. Nevertheless the band remained quite controversial. The Chicks have been publicly booed, but they stated they were all about freedom of speech.

In September of 2005 the Dixie Chicks debuted their song "I Hope" on the "Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast" following Hurricane Katrina. In March of 2006, the Chicks released the single, "Not Ready to Make Nice" in advance of their upcoming album. Since the single release the media has been in an uproar about how successful this new album will be due to all of the past controversy. Some major stations were playing the song, some avoiding it and some adopting a wait and see attitude. The album, "Taking the Long Way" was released in May of 2006 and despite minimal airplay the album debuted at number one selling 526,000 copies in the first week making it gold during that first week. The group began their "Accidents & Accusations Tour" in July 2006.

Band Members:
Emily Robison: 1989-present
Martie Maguire: 1989-present
Natalie Maines: 1995-present

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