Sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, two-thirds of the Dixie Chicks, are spreading their chicken wings and dipping their pouty little beaks into a new feed trough of their own. Today, the pair released an album on the Columbia label called Court Yard Hounds.
According to Billboard.com, Robison and Maguire first decided to record as Court Yard Hounds when Dixie Chicks lead vocalist Natalie Maines wanted to take time off and they were “itching to create some new music.” “She was happy for us that we were able to find an outlet for the stuff that I'd been writing,” Robison said.
The album includes acoustic, rock, country and folk influences. The Court Yard Hounds are even touring the U.S., doing the Lilith Fair, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and other shows. They will also be doing the talk show circuit, appearing on Good Morning America, Late Night With Jimmy FallonJimmy Fallon, Late Show With David Letterman, The View, The Ellen DeGeneresEllen DeGeneres Show and the Late Late Show With Craig FergusonCraig Ferguson.
To help sell the new concept and get the music out into the hands of the fans faster, anyone who preordered the CD from the band’s website was given four songs as downloadable files.
To help fit their mom lifestyle, they’ve been blogging on MomsLife.com and doing weekly webisodes on a variety of sites. Also, their outfits from each TV publicity event will be available for sale at iDeeli.com. There will also be a special day when the outfits will be bundled with the record.
The trio are continuing to work together even as the CYH’s album is released. The Chicks are heading out soon for a North American outdoor stadium tour with the Eagles and Keith UrbanKeith Urban throughout the month of June. This will be the girls’ first tour in four years and they will be promoting their newest album, Taking the Long Way. Meanwhile, Sony Legacy will reportedly release a Dixie Chicks compilation June 1. To date, the Dixie Chicks have sold 25 million albums.
