The Dixie Chicks are a country music group, comprising Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, and Emily Robison and have sold over 36 million albums as of May 2008.

The group formed in 1989 in Dallas, Texas, and was originally composed of four women performing bluegrass and country music, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits and small venues for six years, without attracting a major label. After the departure of one bandmate, the replacement of their lead singer, and a slight change in their repertoire, the Dixie Chicks achieved massive country music and pop success, beginning in 1998 with hit songs like "Wide Open Spaces", "Cowboy Take Me Away", and "Long Time Gone". The women became well-known for their independent spirit and outspoken comments on controversial subjects, including politics.

Ten days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, lead vocalist Natalie Maines said "We don't want this war, this violence; and, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas", (the Dixie Chicks' home State). The statement offended people who supported an invasion and war in Iraq, and the ensuing controversy cost the group half of their concert audience attendance in the United States and led to charges of the three female bandmates being un-American, as well as hate mail and the destruction of their albums in protest.

As of 2008, they have won thirteen Grammy Awards, with five of them earned in 2007 including the coveted Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Taking The Long Way.

Original Dixie Chicks: The Dixie Chicks were founded by bassist Laura Lynch, guitarist Robin Lynn Macy, and the multi-instrumentalist sisters Martie and Emily Erwin in 1989. The Erwin sisters have since married and changed their names. Martie had a short-lived marriage from 1995-1999 during which she was known as Martie Seidel, though in 2001, she remarried and the sisters are now known as Martie Maguire and Emily Robison. The four took their band name from the song "Dixie Chicken" by Lowell George of Little Feat, originally playing predominantly bluegrass and a beguiling mix of country standards. All four women played and sang; however, Maguire and Robison provided most of the instrumental accompaniment for the band while Lynch and Macy shared lead vocals. Maguire primarily played fiddle, mandolin, and viola, while Robison's specialties included the five stringed banjo, and dobro.

In 1990, the Dixie Chicks paid $5,000 for a first independent studio album with the name,Thank Heavens for Dale Evans, named after the pioneering, multi-talented female performer Dale Evans. The album included two instrumental songs. In 1987, Maguire (still known then as Martha Erwin) had won second place, and in 1989, third place in the National fiddle championships held in Winfield, Kansas. A Christmas single was released at the end of the year - a 45 rpm vinyl recording named "Home on the Radar Range", with "Christmas Swing" on one side and the song on the flip side named "The Flip Side". The record titles were significant; during that period of time, the bandmates dressed up as "cowgirls", and publicity photos reflected this image. However, even with an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, with few exceptions, such as Garrison Keillor's radio show, on NPR; A Prairie Home Companion, they didn't get much national airplay.

Changing sound: The Chicks began building up a fan base, winning the prize for "best band" at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and opening for established country music artists, including such big country names as Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, and George Strait.

A second independent album, Little Ol' Cowgirl, followed in 1992. Professional steel guitarist Lloyd Maines was one of the session musicians who played on both of these, and portions of the second album contained a more contemporary country sound as the women enlisted the help of sidemen to bring forth a richer sound. In doing so, they met Lloyd's daughter, Natalie, who was also an aspiring musician. However, not all of the band members were pleased in the direction that their music was taking. Robin Lynn Macy left in late 1992 for a "purer" bluegrass sound although she remained active in the Dallas music scene. With the gap left by Macy, Lloyd passed Natalie's audition demo tape, which had won her a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, to Maguire and Robison. Her distinctive voice was a match for Maguire's soprano and Robison's alto harmonies. As Maguire and Robison considered their options and the major record labels waffled over whether they should take a risk on an all-women's band, a few reviewers took note of their talents:

"Some record label executives will be kicking themselves soon enough when the Dixie Chicks are queens of the honky-tonk circuit. If their show at the Birchmere last week was any indication, these Chicks have what it takes to make the big time, yet no major label has taken the plunge to sign them." Eric Brace, The Washington Post March 30, 1992

Unaware that other possibilities were being considered by the Erwin sisters, Lynch, thrust into the role of sole lead singer on their third independent album, Shouldn't a Told You That in 1993, was unable to attract support from a major record label. The group remained unsuccessful in gaining a large fan base outside the Texas and Nashville areas. By 1995, Maguire and Robison replaced Lynch with singer-songwriter Natalie Maines, the daughter of former Chicks' session player Lloyd Maines. The change left the cowgirl dresses in the past, and left the band with a more contemporary look and a sound that was broader in appeal.

Current Dixie Chicks: After Natalie Maines joined the band, the instrumental lineup was essentially the same, although instead of playing acoustic bass, Natalie played guitar in concert. She sang lead vocals, with Martie (Erwin) Siedel, and Emily both singing backing vocals. Robison was now contributing to the band's sound adding guitar, accordion, sitar and Tacoma papoose guitar to her mastery of the five string banjo and dobro, and Maguire began adding guitar, viola, and mandolin chops more frequently to her expert fiddle. The sisters welcomed the change; Maguire said, "It's very rootsy, but then Natalie comes in with a rock and blues influence. That gave Emily and I a chance to branch out, because we loved those kinds of music but felt limited by our instruments."

Within the next year, Sony scouted the Chicks and signed them to the newly revived Monument Records label. A single "I Can Love You Better" was released in October 1997, and reached the Top 10 on American country music charts, while the new lineup recorded the rest of their debut album. Wide Open Spaces was released in January 23, 1998. Over the space of a year, the next three singles from Wide Open Spaces reached first place on the Country charts: "There's Your Trouble," "You Were Mine", and the title track, "Wide Open Spaces"; a song reflecting youthful yearning for independence, and possibilities yet undiscovered; and increasingly, the majority of fans became young women. Lines like these brought forth a yearning from their public:

This first album for the current band added a widespread audience to their original loyal following, entering the top five on both country and pop charts with initial sales of 12 million copies in the country music arena alone, taking the record for the best-selling duo or group album in country music history.

In 1998, the Dixie Chicks sold more CDs than all other country music groups combined. Big Country music took note of the Chicks, awarding them the Horizon Award for new artists in 1998, which, according to CBS News, is "given to someone expected to have a long, successful career". By 1999, the album won the new line up their first Grammy Awards as well as acclaim from the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, and other high profile awards. As of 2008, Wide Open Spaces has gone on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it a diamond album.

Continued success and tours: The Dixie Chicks further proved themselves with another hit album, Fly on August 31, 1999 which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 charts selling over 10 million copies, and making the Dixie Chicks the only country group and the only female group of any genre to hold the distinction of having earned two rare repeat RIAA certified diamond albums, back-to-back., Nine singles emerged from it, including country No. 1's "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Without You." Because of this success, the Dixie Chicks have albums that have continued to place in the list of the 50 best-selling albums in American history, over a half-decade after they were released. Fly again won Grammy awards and honors from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, and a humbling amount of honors from a variety of other sources for their accomplishments. The band headlined their first tour, the Fly Tour, with guest artists including Joe Ely and Ricky Skaggs appearing at each show. and additionally joined Sarah McLaughlin, Sheryl Crow, and other female artists on the all-woman touring Lilith Fair,

The source of Dixie Chicks' commercial success during this time came from various factors: they wrote or co-wrote about half of the songs on Wide Open Spaces and Fly; their mixture of bluegrass, mainstream country music, blues, and pop songs appealed to a wide spectrum of record buyers, and where the women had once dressed as "cowgirls" with Lynch, their dress was now more contemporary.

"Cowboy Take Me Away," from Fly, became another signature song, written by Maguire to celebrate her sister's romance with country singer Charlie Robison, who Emily subsequently married, exchanging her surname for Robison. However there were a few songs that the Chicks also provided that brought controversy within their conservative country music fan base; and two songs caused some radio stations to remove the Chicks from their playlists: "Sin Wagon", from which the term "mattress dancing" takes on a new twist, and "Goodbye Earl," a song that uses black comedy in telling the story of the unabashed murder of an abusive husband. (The band later made a video portraying the nefarious deed, with actor Dennis Franz playing the murdered husband). In an interview, Maines commented about Sony worrying about the reference to "mattress dancing" on the song, "Sin Wagon", refusing to discuss it in interviews. She said, "Our manager jokes, 'You can't say mattress dancing, but they love the song about premeditated first degree murder'! She continues, "..So it's funny to us that "mattress dancing" is out and murder is in!" Although there were some disagreements regarding such songs, the trio were consistently unapologetic.

Dispute with their record label: After the commercial success of their first two albums, the band became involved in a dispute with their record label, Sony, regarding accounting procedures, alleging that in at least 30 cases Sony had used fraudulent accounting practices, underpaying them at least $4 million dollars (£2.7m) in royalties on their albums over the previous three years. Sony held out, and the trio walked away, with Sony suing the group for failure to complete their contract. The Chicks responded with their own $4.1 million dollar lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment on August 27th, which added clout to claims made by rockers Courtney Love and Aimee Mann as well as LeAnn Rimes against the recording industry. After months of negotiation, the Chicks settled their suit privately, and were awarded their own record label imprint, "Open Wide Records", which afforded them more control, a better contract, and an increase in royalty money, with Sony still responsible for marketing and distribution of albums.