The Dixie Chicks: Three birds of a feather

The Dixie Chicks (from left to right): Martie Seidel, Natalie Maines and Emily Robinson

February 16, 2000
Web posted at: 5:16 p.m. EST (2216 GMT)

From Paul Vercammen
CNN Entertainment News Correspondent

(CNN) -- The Dixie Chicks celebrate success by getting tattoos. With five Grammy Award nominations to their credit this year, and more than 10 million albums sold, they've found ample reason to cover their feet with flocks of tattooed birds.

"We have nine," says lead vocalist Natalie Maines, "but we should have 10. We're going to get one more, because 'Cowboy Take Me Away' went No. 1. But we get them for No. 1 singles or albums, or the first time an album goes gold or platinum."

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Listen to clips from "Fly:" "Goodbye Earl" [225k MPEG-3] or [310k WAV] "Ready To Run" [180k MPEG-3] or [250k WAV] "Sin Wagon" [205k MPEG-3] or [280k WAV]

These chicks hatched in Dallas -- fiddle player Martie Seidel, her sister, guitarist Emily Robinson, and Maines. With a sound that satisfied both country and pop fans, their critically acclaimed debut album, "Wide Open Spaces," cracked the Billboard Top 5 -- the overall chart, not just the chart tracking country music albums.

The awards came next. "Wide Open Spaces" won two Grammys, three Billboard awards and three Country Music Association awards in 1999, along with four awards from the Academy of Country Music.

Competing with Santana

The Dixie Chicks' second record, "Fly," collected Grammy nominations this year for album of the year, best country performance by a group, best country song and best country album -- plus a nomination for best country collaboration, which they share with the group Asleep at the Wheel.

"There are some surprises in there," says Maines of the year's Grammy competition, noting especially Carlos Santana's "Supernatural" streak. "We wish he wasn't in the (album of the year) category," she jokes, "because maybe we might have a chance."

The Chicks' racier lyrics, Maines says, raise eyebrows -- and no one in the Dixie Chicks is apologizing.

Nominee Profiles Learn more about the musicians poised for a win Fun and Games Take our Grammy challenge! You Be the Academy Cast your own vote for several Grammy categories Message Board What do you think of the Recording Academy's selections?

"If this were pop or rock, this question would not be asked," guitarist Robinson maintains. "It's not something that hasn't been touched on before. ... I don't think we're talking about half the things rappers talk about."

Still, says Seidel, the group knows its listeners. "We do appreciate that we have a very conservative audience," she says, "and we do try to walk the fine line of that and not offend anybody."

The Dixie Chicks spiced up the Lilith Fair tour last summer, which helped them sell more records. And that, of course, meant more tattoos.

Review: Dixie Chicks -- back and strutting
August 31, 1999
Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks nab armloads of Country Music Awards
May 6, 1999

Official Dixie Chicks site
Sony Nashville

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