When they formed in 1989, the original members of the Dixie Chicks were sisters Martie and 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 Erwin sisters provided the instrumental skills while Laura and Robin handled the lead vocals.All four were from Addison, a suburb of Dallas.
The Dixie Chicks were mainly a bluegrass outfit (the Erwins playing fiddle and banjo), and released their first album in 1990. The title,Thank Heavens for Dale Evans, was a tip of the hat to pioneering female performer Dale Evans, wife of cowboy star Roy Rogers. The album evenincluded two instrumentals, as Martie had taken third place at the National Fiddle Championships the year before. The Chicks gained some positive notices, won Best Band at the Telluride Bluegrass Festive which led to opening act spots with Garth Brooks, Reba McIntire and George Strait, but despite this, radio exposure remained elusive.
In 1991 the Chicks released a Christmas single "Home on the Radar Range,"which was followed in 1992 by Little Ol' Cowgirl, their second album, Enter steel guitar player Lloyd Maines, who played on both of these recordings. The second album, possibly as a result of being exposed to Brooks, McIntire and Strait, had a more contemporary country sound. The Chicks continued to appear at events in the Texas and Nashville areas, remaining a critical success but still out of the airplay loop outside their native Dallas. In late 1992, Robin Lynn Macy left, preferring to stick with a "purer" bluegrass sound. She remains active in the Dallas music scene.
In 1993, the remaining three Chicks released Shouldn't-A Told You That, their third album. Lynch was now the sole lead singer and the bluegrass sound faded further into the background of their repertoire. Despite constant touring, and appearances at events such as Clinton's Inauguration and the national television shows, no radio hit emerged and commercial success continue to elude them.
It wasn't until 1995 that Laura Lynch finally left the group and Natalie Maines, daughter of Lloyd Maines, was added to the trio, which appeared to add the edge the band had so far chased without success.. Around the same time,Sony scouted the Chicks and they were signed to the revived Monument Records, once home to Kris Kristofferson.
This new lineup consisted of group leader Martie, handling fiddle, mandolin and vocals, Emily on guitar, dobro, banjo and vocals, and Natalie Maines handling lead vocals and playing guitar in concert. This combination clicked and pushed the Dixie Chicks onto commercial country radio via a single "I Can Love You Better," released in October 1997, this time with major label promotion. It climbed into the Top 10 of the country charts.
Their watershed album, Wide Open Spaces, was released in January 1998. and went three-deep with number one singles on the country charts: the toe-tapping "There's Your Trouble", followed by the evocative "Wide Open Spaces," and the ballad "You Were Mine". Wide Open Spaces went on to sell well over 12 million copies, and became on the fifty best-selling albums in American history. The Chicks spent most of 1999 touring as an opening act for Tim McGraw.
Fly, the second album, proved that The Dixie Chicks were no fluke. Nine singles emerged from it, including No. 1's "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Without You". Fly went on to sell 10 million copies. The Chicks took the Fly tour into arenas, as headliners.
Their own personalities began to shine through the music at this stage. They wrote or co-wrote half the songs on these two records. The musical marriage of bluegrass and 'new' country appealed to a wide spectrum of record buyers. Lyrically, the Chicks resonated with the public.
A romantic yet adventurous independence was the concept of the first two albums featuring Natalie Maines as the lead singer; and this was evident in the lyrics of "Cowboy Take Me Away," But the Chicks also hammed it up with "Goodbye Earl," which humorously recounted the tale of the murder of an abusive husband by his fed-up wife. These two tracks were removed from some radio playlists due to content,but the group was consistently unapologetic — an indicator of a larger controversy in the future.
Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Dixie Chicks debuted "I Believe in Love" on the Tribute to Heroes telethon. It was a harbinger of a change in their musical direction.
For two years thereafter, the band became involved in a dispute with Sony, and Home, their next album was independently produced by Lloyd Maines and released in 2002 after the Chicks and Sony reconciled their differences. Unlike the two previous records, Home was recorded without drums and dominated by up-tempo bluegrass and pensive ballads. The lyrics of the opening track and first single, "Long Time Gone," attacked contemporary country radio, accusing it of neglecting the soul of country music personified by Johnny Cash, George Jones and Hank Williams.
Despite this risky subject matter, the song rose to #2 on the country charts. The album became another major success; selling over 6 million copies in the U.S. But for the political controversy to come, it is possible it might have sold much better, but "Long Time Gone" also became the Chicks' first top ten crossover hit.
The Chick's independent spirit was still alive and well as they covered Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide,"which also entered the top ten country and pop charts. Home won four Grammys in 2003, including Best Country Album. The Top of The World tour dates often sold out within hours.And then it all went haywire.
On March 10, 2003, during the run-up to the Iraq invasion - which took place on March 20 - Natalie Maines, a native of Lubbock, Texas, said between songs during a concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theatre in London, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas."
Once a review of this concert was picked up by U.S. media, all hell broke loose.
Following the initial uproar and the start of an organized boycott of their music at radio, Maines attempted to clarify matters on March 12, by making the statement, "I feel the President is ignoring the opinions of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world."
This absolutely failed to quiet things down, and on March 14, she issued an apology: "As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect. We are currently in Europe and witnessing a huge anti-American sentiment as a result of the perceived rush to war. While war may remain a viable option, as a mother, I just want to see every possible alternative exhausted before children and American soldiers' lives are lost. I love my country. I am a proud American."
This statement, like the rest, continued to add fuel to the conflagration surrounding the endangered career of the Dixie Chicks. The controversy raged on through the following months, and country radio and a lot of country fans finally and completely broke with the Dixie Chicks, who toughed it out throughout the next two years, supported by friends and fans who quite obviously agreed with the band's position. Even George Bush was prone to dismiss the entire thing. However, the women received death threats, and the welfare of their families was a great concern for a time. The band hunkered down and waited for the storm to pass, going into the studio to record their next album.
The new album, Taking The Long Way, was released in stores and online on May 22, 2006. Produced by Rick Rubin (Metallica, RHCPs, Johnny Cash, and the Beastie Boys) it was hyped to be more rock than country. All 14 tracks were co-written with the band and outside songwriters.The album contained additional tracks that seemed to indirectly reference what the group called "The Incident", and outwardly the Chicks remained defiant. In Time, Martie Maguire said, "I'd rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do." Maines also retracted her earlier apology to Bush, stating, "I apologized for disrespecting the office of the President, but I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."
Receiving almost no airplay, The Long Way debuted at number one on both the pop and country charts, selling 526,000 copies in the first week (the year's second-best such total for any country act) going gold in its first week. The Chicks became the first female group in chart history to have three albums debut at #1.
The group's Accidents and Accusations tour kicked off in July 2006. Ticket sales were strong in Canada, decent in some Northeastern markets, but notably weak in other areas. A number of shows were cancelled due to poor sales, and in Houston, tickets never went on sale because local radio stations refused to accept advertising.
In August, a re-routed tour schedule was announced with a greater emphasis on Canadian dates, where Taking the Long Way had gone quintuple platinum. The tour's shows themselves generally refrained from any explicit verbal political comments, letting the music, especially the central performance of the controversial "Not Ready to Make Nice,"speak for itself.
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