 Biography
It's been said
too many times about too many people, but for once it's true:
the Dixie Chicks are one of a kind. Since exploding onto the
national country music scene just three years ago, the
Texas-by-way-of-Nashville trio has won millions of fans and an
avalanche of awards and critical acclaim. Blending bluegrass
skills, pop accessibility, rock beats and stone country music
with a brash, irreverent attitude, the Chicks have created a
fresh new sound that's instantly recognizable and always
engaging.
Tracing their roots back to the days when Emily Robison and
Martie Maguire sang on the streets of Dallas, the Chicks took
flight when feisty Natalie Maines came on board, complementing
the sisters' formidable prowess as singers - and pickers - with
what one critic called "one of the most powerful voices in
the business." Framing Maines' stunning vocals with elegant
harmonies and plenty of banjo, fiddle and dobro, the Chicks'
debut CD, Wide Open Spaces, took the country music world by
storm in 1998, earning the group top awards, including a Grammy
for Country Album Of The Year, and selling more than 11 million
copies - the best performance by a debut album in the history of
country music. Their follow-up, Fly, released in late 1999,
proved that the trio was no one-hit wonder, as it reaped an even
greater harvest of honors, including more Grammys and the
Country Music Association's marquee award, Entertainer of the
Year.
Yet as spectacularly as the Dixie Chicks' recordings have been
received, their brilliance in the studio has found a counterpart
on stage. Their reputation as adept musicians and spectacular
performers led them from sharing the stage with country music's
finest on the George Strait Country Music Festival and the Tim
McGraw tour to being enthusiastically welcomed by pop audiences
while playing alongside Sara McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Stevie
Nicks and others on the 1999 Lilith Fair tour as well as the
televised "Sheryl Crow & Friends Live From Central
Park" event.
Their "Fly" tour of 2000 saw audiences around the
country flocking to catch the dynamic trio in action - and in a
departure from the country music norm, they were as likely to
include young girls dressed as their favorite Chick as they were
adults. "Chicks Rule!" and "Chicks Kick
Ass!" were the slogans of choice as the group not only
delivered their own irresistible hits but introduced fans to
friends and influences such as Willie Nelson, Ricky Scaggs and
Patty Griffin. And the trio lived up to the shouts. When the
tour came to a triumphant close, shortly after the broadcast of
their own NBC concert special, it had become the biggest of the
year by a single country headlining act.
With a unique combination of respect for country's musical
traditions and an unwillingness to be bound by its social ones,
it's natural that the Chicks have earned recognition far beyond
the genre. Profiled - and acclaimed - everywhere from 60 Minutes
with Dan Rather to the pages of USA Today Entertainment Weekly,
and Rolling Stone, with TV appearances on Late Night with David
Letterman, the Tonight Show, the Rosie O'Donnell Show, the
prestigious Sessions at W. 54th series and many more, it's no
exaggeration to say that the Dixie Chicks are among the foremost
- and most provocative - ambassadors country music has today. |
