Natalie Maines | |
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![]() Maines in Austin, Texas, 2006 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Natalie Louise Maines |
Also known as | Natalie Pasdar |
Born | Lubbock, Texas, U.S. | October 14, 1974
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1995–present |
Labels | |
Member of | The Chicks |
Spouse(s) | |
Website | nataliemainesmusic |
Natalie Louise Maines [1] (born October 14, 1974) [2] [3] is an American musician. She is the lead vocalist for the country band the Chicks.
In 1995, after leaving Berklee College of Music, Maines was recruited by the Dixie Chicks to replace their lead singer, Laura Lynch. With Maines as lead vocalist, the band earned 10 Country Music Association Awards and 13 Grammy Awards for their work between 1998 and 2007.
In 2006, with Maines still acting as lead singer, the (Dixie) Chicks released Taking the Long Way . The album subsequently won five Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year). After dropping the "Dixie", the Chicks new album Gaslighter was released on July 17, 2020. As a solo artist, Maines released the album, Mother , on May 7, 2013.
Maines was born in Lubbock, Texas, to country musician and producer Lloyd Maines and Tina May Maines. She attended Nat Williams Elementary School in Lubbock, where her second grade teacher recalls being told by Maines during a math lesson, "Teacher, I don't need to learn this stuff—I'm gonna be a star." [1] Maines was a cheerleader while attending O. L. Slaton Junior High School, [1] and graduated in 1992 from Lubbock High School where she had participated in the school choir. [4] Maines has described growing up in conservative Texas, saying "I always rebelled against that. My parents sent me and my sister to public minority schools so I always felt like a hippie and a rebel. ... As a teenager I always loved not thinking in the way I knew the majority of people thought. I always stood up for minorities. ... I've always stood up for homosexuals. I just always had these really strong convictions about doing so." [5]
Following the completion of high school, Maines attended several colleges. She spent two semesters pursuing an undeclared major at West Texas A&M where her studies focused heavily on radio, then a year and a half at South Plains College. One of Maines's instructors at South Plains, and a former member of The Maines Brothers Band, Cary Banks, recalled "She was mostly into rock'n'roll, rhythm and blues ... alternative rock." When Banks encountered Maines on campus, he said that she usually needed to vent a little steam. "She would get into a lot of political arguments" at the predominantly Republican school, and was a fan of Texas Governor Ann Richards. "She's always been opinionated and hardheaded like her dad." [1] In December 1994, Maines auditioned for and received a full vocal scholarship to Berklee College of Music. She pursued the diploma program at Berklee but dropped out before the completion of her studies. Even though Maines is from Lubbock, home of Texas Tech University, she attended only one class at the school, a 1995 summer course in "Introductory Wildlife". [1]
Maines's first professional recording was lead vocals on the song "White Women's Clothes" on Andy Wilkinson's album "Charlie Goodnight's Life in Poetry and Song." Maines's first commercially released work was background vocals on Pat Green's debut album, Dancehall Dreamer, produced by her father Lloyd Maines and released in 1995. At the end of 1995, at age 21, Maines joined the all-female country music band, the then named Dixie Chicks, which had been performing since 1989, but which had been unsuccessful in gaining more than local attention. Maines replaced founding lead singer Laura Lynch. She plays guitar and bass in concert in the band. [6]
Maines co-wrote four tracks for The Chicks' first three albums, including the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart number one hit "Without You" on Fly . Maines was a primary songwriter on all 14 tracks of the band's 2006 album Taking the Long Way which peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 1. Taking the Long Way has the Billboard Hot 100 single "Not Ready to Make Nice", (Maines, Strayer, Erwin, Wilson) hitting No. 4 [7] and for which the band won the songwriting Grammy Award, for Song of the Year. Maines considers the songwriting she did for Taking the Long Way "pure therapy" after the controversy that ensued over a comment Maines made from the stage in London that criticized U.S. President George W. Bush. [8] "Everything felt more personal this time", Maines said about the album, "there's just more maturity, depth, intelligence. ... [These songs] feel more grown-up." [9]
Maines collaborates with other musical artists, both as a member of the Chicks and an individual singer. The Chicks first worked with Sheryl Crow in 1999 while performing for the concert tour Lilith Fair. [10] Since then, the Chicks have worked with Crow on her Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live from Central Park album, a Crow remixed version of "Landslide" performed by the Chicks, and the Chicks' song "Favorite Year" from Taking the Long Way. Maines has performed with artists including Pat Green, Charlie Robison, Yellowcard, Stevie Nicks, Patty Griffin, Neil Diamond, Eddie Vedder, Pete Yorn and Ben Harper.
On May 7, 2013, Maines released a solo album entitled Mother . [11] [12] This was Maines's first album since the Chicks hiatus started in 2007. The album was co-produced by Ben Harper. The album contains Maines's interpretation of several cover songs, including Pink Floyd's "Mother", Eddie Vedder's "Without You", and Jeff Buckley's "Lover, You Should've Come Over". She also sings about motherhood, feminism, and painful relationships. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
In September 2015, Maines was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame. The ceremony took place at Lubbock High School from where she graduated in 1992. [16] [17]
Maines has participated in various fundraising and awareness events. They include:
In 1997, Maines married her South Plains College boyfriend, bassist Michael Tarabay, and the couple moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Within two years they filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. [1]
Maines met actor Adrian Pasdar in May 1999 at the wedding of bandmate Emily Erwin to Charlie Robison. Maines and Pasdar married on June 24, 2000, at A Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. [21] [22] [23] They have two sons. [24] During her marriage, Maines referred to herself as Natalie Pasdar. [25] Maines filed for divorce in July 2017; it was finalized in December 2019. [26] The events leading to her divorce inspired multiple songs on the 2020 album Gaslighter . [27]
Maines practices transcendental meditation. [28]
On March 10, 2003, nine days before the invasion of Iraq, the Chicks performed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theater in London, England, UK. It was the first concert of their Top of the World Tour in support of their sixth album, Home. [29] Introducing their song "Travelin' Soldier", Maines told the audience the band they did not support the upcoming Allied invasion of Iraq and were "ashamed" that President George W. Bush was from Texas. [30] [31]
Many American country music listeners supported the war, and Maines's remark triggered a backlash in the United States. [30] The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted by thousands of country radio stations, [32] and the band members received death threats. [33] Maines issued an apology, saying her remark had been disrespectful; in 2006 she rescinded the apology, saying she felt Bush deserved no respect. [32] The backlash damaged sales of their music and sales of their next album and tour. [34]
At the first US concert after Maines's comment, she said from the stage, "They told me that you may not come, but I knew you'd come because we have the greatest fans in the whole wide world." [35] [36] Despite fan turnout at concerts, the Chicks began receiving death threats as circulation of the comment increased. Subsequently, security was heightened at all concert venues and metal detectors were installed where possible. [8] [37] A death threat directed at Maines was received prior to the Chicks' concert of July 6, 2003, in Dallas, Texas. Maines described the threat as "scary because ... it wasn't just somebody wanting to write a hate letter. ... It was somebody who obviously thought they had a plan." Security was heightened for the trip to and from the concert venue as well as at the arena. [38]
On May 21, 2006, while promoting the release of the album Taking the Long Way , Maines recanted her 2003 apology to President Bush, saying, "I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever. ... If people are going to ask me to apologize based on who I am ... I don't know what to do about that. I can't change who I am." [39]
Maines says she is not looking for more battles but that "The Incident," as it is referred to by the Chicks, reminded her of how she "felt in high school: to be angry, to be sure that you're right and that the things you do matter. You don't realize that you're not feeling those feelings until you do. And then you realize how much more interesting life is." [39]
Two 2006 documentaries, Protesting the Dixie Chicks and Shut Up And Sing , deal with the controversy surrounding Maines's comment and the ensuing fallout. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on June 15, 2006, regarding the fallout from her comment, Maines again stirred up controversy by stating:
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. [40]
In 2007, the Chicks won three Grammys for "Not Ready to Make Nice" and two Grammys for Taking the Long Way, receiving all five Grammys for which they were nominated. This was seen by some as vindication for the Chicks, who were shunned by country radio programmers after Maines's remarks about President Bush. As the Chicks accepted the album of the year award, Maines said, "I think people are using their freedom of speech with all these awards. We get the message." [41]
Maines had a public feud with fellow country music superstar Toby Keith over the 2002 chart-topping country hit "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue", as well as a comment Maines made about U.S. President George W. Bush during a March 2003 Chicks concert in London.
Maines publicly criticized Keith's song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" by saying, "I hate it. It's ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant. It targets an entire culture—and not just the bad people who did bad things. You've got to have some tact. Anybody can write, 'We'll put a boot in your ass.'" [42] Keith responded by belittling Maines's songwriting skills with, "I'll bury her. She has never written anything that has been a hit" [43] and, "That's what I do—I write songs." [44]
After Maines commented at a March 2003 Chicks concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theatre in London that the Chicks didn't want the Iraq War and were "ashamed" President Bush "was from Texas", Keith's 2003 "Shock'n Y'all" tour began displaying a backdrop showing a doctored photo of Maines with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. [45] Shortly thereafter, on May 21, 2003, Maines wore a T-shirt with the letters "F.U.T.K." written on the front while performing for the Academy of Country Music Awards broadcast. [45] The Chicks website stated that the letters stood for "Freedom, United, Together in Kindness". [46] Some saw it as a well-deserved veiled insult directed at Keith. [45]
In the 2006 documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing , backstage footage prior to her appearance wearing the F.U.T.K. shirt recorded the conversation between Maines and Simon Renshaw and confirmed that the original intent of the shirt was in response to Keith's criticism of her: the letters stood for "Fuck You Toby Keith". [25] As of January 2007, Keith continued to refuse to say Maines's name and argues that the doctored photos displayed during his concerts were intended to express his feeling that Maines's criticism was tyrannical and a dictator-like attempt to squelch Keith's free speech. [47]
Maines and other members of The Chicks participated in a rally in Little Rock, Arkansas, in late 2007, in support of the West Memphis Three, three imprisoned men convicted of the 1993 murder of three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. On August 19, 2011, Maines joined with Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder in Jonesboro, Arkansas, supporting the release of the West Memphis Three. [48]
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
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US [49] | US Digital [50] | US Rock [51] | US Taste [52] | AUS [53] | |||||
Mother |
| 17 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 50 |
Year | Single | Album |
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2013 | "Without You" | Mother |
Year | Video |
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2013 | "Without You" |
Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
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"White Women's Clothes" | 1994 | none | Charlie Goodnight: His Life In Poetry And Song |
"Dancehall Dreamer" | 1995 | Pat Green | Dancehall Dreamer |
"Snowing on Raton" | 1997 | George's Bar | |
"The Wedding Song" | 2001 | Charlie Robison | Step Right Up |
"Too Far From Texas" | Stevie Nicks | Trouble in Shangri-La | |
"Abilene" | 2002 | Sheryl Crow | C'mon, C'mon |
"El Cerrito Place" | 2004 | Charlie Robison | Good Times |
"Mary" | 2005 | Patty Griffin | Songs for Tsunami Relief: Austin to South Asia |
"How I Go" | 2006 | Yellowcard | Lights and Sounds |
"The Man" | Pete Yorn | Nightcrawler | |
"Don't Mean Nothing" | Westerns EP | ||
"Another Day (That Time Forgot)" | 2008 | Neil Diamond | Home Before Dark |
"God Only Knows" | 2011 | none | Big Love |
"Golden State (Live)" | 2012 | Eddie Vedder | Golden State (Live) |
"Mother" | 2013 | none | West of Memphis: Voices for Justice |
"Love Without Fear" | 2014 | Dan Wilson | Love Without Fear |
"Too Much" | |||
"The Wayfaring Stranger" | 2015 | Robert Earl Keen | Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions |
"Who I Want You To Love" | Bleachers | Terrible Thrills, Vol. 2 | |
"Knockin' At My Door" | 2016 | Smooth Hound Smith | Sweet Tennessee Honey |
"The Boots That Got Us There" | |||
Martha Elenor Maguire is an American musician who is a founding member of the country band the Chicks and the country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in national fiddle championships while still a teenager. Maguire is accomplished on several other instruments, including the mandolin, viola, double bass and guitar. She has written and co-written a number of the band's songs, some of which have become chart-topping hits. She also contributes her skills in vocal harmony and backing vocals, as well as orchestrating string arrangements for the band.
Emily Burns Strayer is an American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and a founding member of the country band the Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks. Strayer plays banjo, dobro, guitar, lap steel, bass, mandolin, accordion, fiddle, piano, and sitar. Initially in her career with the Chicks, she limited her singing to harmony with backing vocals, but within her role in the Court Yard Hounds, she took on the role of lead vocalist.
Home is the sixth studio album by American country music band Dixie Chicks, released on August 27, 2002, through Monument and Columbia Records. It is notable for its acoustic bluegrass sound, which stands in contrast with their previous two country pop albums.
Toby Keith Covel was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman.
Wide Open Spaces is the fourth studio album and the major label debut of American country music band Dixie Chicks. It was their first record with new lead vocalist Natalie Maines, and became their breakthrough commercial success. It received diamond status by the RIAA on February 20, 2003, in the United States, having shipped 13 million units worldwide, while spending more than six years in the Australian ARIA music charts Country Top 20.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 2002.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 2003.
Taking the Long Way is the seventh studio album by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released on May 23, 2006, through Columbia Nashville, it was also the group's last album released under the “Dixie Chicks” name. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold over 2.5 million copies in the U.S., being certified 2× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 11, 2007. It won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year in February 2007.
The Top of the World Tour was the 2003 concert tour by American country music trio Dixie Chicks. It was in support of their album Home, and named after the song "Top of the World" on that album.
"Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue " is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Toby Keith. The song was written in late 2001, and was inspired by Keith's father's death in March 2001, as well as the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States later that year. It was released in May 2002 as the lead single from the album, Unleashed.
The Accidents & Accusations World Tour was a concert tour by the Dixie Chicks. It was their first tour where tickets were sold after the scandal which ensued in 2003 when lead singer Natalie Maines publicly criticized President George W. Bush at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London during the Top of the World Tour, leading to intense criticism of the group. The tour was named after the lyrics in the song "Easy Silence" from the album Taking the Long Way, released in May 2006.
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing is a 2006 American documentary film about the Dixie Chicks controversy, produced and directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck.
"Not Ready to Make Nice" is a song co-written and performed by American country music trio Dixie Chicks. It was released on March 20, 2006 as the first single from the band's seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way. The Dixie Chicks wrote the song in response to the backlash they experienced in 2003 after criticizing President George W. Bush.
The Chicks are an American country band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer. Maguire and Strayer, both née Erwin, founded the band in 1989, with bassist Laura Lynch and vocalist and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy. They performed bluegrass and country music, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits and small venues for six years without attracting a major label. In 1992, Lynch replaced Macy as the lead vocalist.
"Top of the World" is a contemporary folk-country song written by Patty Griffin and most known as recorded and performed in Grammy Award-winning fashion by the Dixie Chicks.
"Wide Open Spaces" is a song written by Susan Gibson and recorded by the American country music group Dixie Chicks. It was released in August 1998 as the third single and title track from the band's album Wide Open Spaces. The song hit number one on the U.S. Country singles chart and spent four weeks there in November 1998. It also placed to number 41 on the U.S. Pop singles chart.
Court Yard Hounds were an American country music and folk duo, founded by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison. They, along with Natalie Maines, make up The Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks. The sisters decided to record a side project under a different name. Court Yard Hounds, featuring Robison for the first time as lead vocalist, released a debut album for Columbia Records, the same label for which the Dixie Chicks has recorded, on May 4, 2010. The album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart, initially selling 61,000 copies. It has sold approximately 825,000 copies in the United States.
Mother is the first solo studio album by American singer Natalie Maines. It was released on May 7, 2013.
Gaslighter is the eighth studio album by American country band the Chicks. It was released on July 17, 2020, by Columbia Records. Produced by Jack Antonoff and the Chicks, it is the group's first album in fourteen years, and first to be released under their new name. The album was preceded by the release of three singles: "Gaslighter", "Julianna Calm Down", and "March March". The album received critical acclaim.
In March 2003, the American country band the Dixie Chicks publicly criticized President George W. Bush, triggering a backlash. At a concert in London during their Top of the World Tour, the lead singer, Natalie Maines, said the Dixie Chicks were ashamed Bush was from the same state as them, and that they did not support the imminent invasion of Iraq.
Maines is a TM-er, it turns out. Eighteen years ago, she told the crowd, she and fiddler Martie Maguire went to learn TM together