The Dixie Chicks are a country/rock music trio from the United States comprising Emily Robison, Martie Maguire and Natalie Maines. They are the highest-selling female band in any musical genre, having sold 36 million albums as of June 2006. The Dixie Chicks was founded by the sisters Martie and Emily Erwin along with Laura Lynch and Robin Lynn Macy. The Erwin sisters have since married and changed their names to Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, respectively. The Erwin sisters provided the instrumental firepower for the band while Lynch and Macy were the lead singers. All four original members of the Dixie Chicks graduated from Greenhill School in Addison, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Robin Lynn Macy left in late 1992, for a "purer" bluegrass approach, and remained active in the Dallas music scene. Laura Lynch was replaced in late 1995 by Natalie Maines, the daughter of producer, steel guitar player, and former Chicks' session player Lloyd Maines. Around the same time, Sony scouted the Chicks and signed them to the newly revived Monument Records label."Wide Open Spaces" (1998), is the first album released after the original lead vocalist Laura Lynch was replaced by Natalie Maines, the album was the biggest commercial success and sold 12 million copies in U.S. The Chicks also delivered gleeful revenge epics such as "Goodbye Earl," the tale of a woman who murders her abusive husband and gets away with it, or raucous, ribald numbers such as "Sin Wagon," a concert staple rave-up. Both of these tracks contained thematic elements that led to some radio stations removing the Chicks from their playlists, but the group was consistently unapologetic. The Dixie Chicks became involved in a dispute with their record label regarding royalties and accounting procedures. After the trio quit in disgust, Sony sued the group for failure to complete their contract. The group countersued. After the two parties reconciled their differences, Home, independently produced by Lloyd Maines, was released in 2002. For tracks not written by the group, outside songwriters were solicited for personal songs that were considered "uncommercial". Unlike the Chicks' two previous records, Home was recorded without drums and is dominated by very up-tempo bluegrass and pensive ballads. In addition, the lyrics of the opening track and first single, "Long Time Gone," explicitly attacked contemporary country music radio, accusing it of ignoring the soul of the genre as exemplified by Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams. Maines' remark sparked intense criticism; many Americans believed that she should not criticize George Bush. Maines insists, however, "I said it there 'cause that's where I was." By the time of the Dixie Chicks' August 3 Atlanta show, Maines remarked that they had not heard any boos for a couple of shows; some were heard that night, but the Chicks felt that it was okay, as they supported freedom of speech. In a September 2003 interview, Maguire told the German magazine Der Spiegel: "We don't feel a part of the country scene any longer, it can't be our home anymore." She noted a lack of support from country stars, and being shunned at the 2003 ACM awards. "Instead, we won three Grammys against much stronger competition. So we now consider ourselves part of the big rock 'n' roll family." However, in an open letter to fans on the Chicks' website, Maines said Maguire had been misquoted. In June 2006 an article in the Telegraph quoted Emily Robison on the lack of support from other country music performers, "A lot of artists cashed in on being against what we said or what we stood for because that was promoting their career, which was a horrible thing to do." Robison continued, "A lot of pandering started going on, and you'd see soldiers and the American flag in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra-patriotism." Maines commented, "The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism. Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country ... I don't see why people care about patriotism."Wikinews has related news:Dixie Chicks show documentary at TIFF The group's Accidents & Accusations Tour began in July 2006. Ticket sales were strong in Canada and in some Northeastern markets, but notably weak in other areas. A number of shows were cancelled or relocated to smaller venues due to poor sales, and in Houston, Texas, tickets never even went on sale when local radio stations refused to accept advertising for the event. In August, a re-routed tour schedule was announced with a greater emphasis on Canadian dates, where Taking the Long Way had gone five-times-platinum. The tour's shows themselves generally refrained from any explicit verbal political comments, letting the music, especially the central performance of Not Ready to Make Nice, speak for itself. At a Nov. 5, 2006 concert in Calgary, Alberta the Chicks received a thunderous ovation when the song was over, and the band held up a handwritten sign from a fan that read "Nobody likes a nasty Bush." The music video for "Not Ready to Make Nice" was nominated for the 2007 CMT Music Video Awards in the categories of "Video of the Year" and "Group Video of the Year," however, the video did not win in its nominated categories.
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