If you haven't visited The All-Inclusive Dixie Chicks Page, you may have not even known that the Dixie Chicks existed prior to their first major-label release, Wide Open Spaces. And if you've spent any time surfing the Dixie Chicks Webring, you've had a chance to see literally hundreds of pictures (of varying quality) of the new all-blonde Chicks.

Robin, Emily, Laura, and Martie, from the CD Little Ol' Cowgirl

But the original Dixie Chicks had an entirely different look. They used to be an "All Cowgirl Band", and dressed accordingly. Anyone who has watched CMT lately can tell you that that's not "mainstream," and the change to Shania-style duds was an inevitable part of the road to success. And Natalie hated the frilly look, saying "The only thing I knew for sure was that I wasn't going to wear those cowgirl clothes." (People, 9/28/98).

Like it or not, Natalie, these clothes are part of the history of the Dixie Chicks... brought to you in color by your friends at The All-Inclusive Dixie Chicks Page!

Pictures of the Dixie Chicks

• The Dixie Chicks Coloring Book
  This 1992 production is drawn in beautiful detail by artist George Toomer, and is so full of details that it gets its own page -- click the link to go to it.

• Robin with Blue Plate Special, September 1999
  Added 10/12/1999. All images © Copyright Gary F. Presson, Wichita, Kansas. Used with permission.
  As noted on the Timeline, Robin Lynn Macy, now Robin Macy Bennett, is still teaching and is still involved in traditional music. She's now with a southern Kansas regional bluegrass band called Blue Plate Special, which makes semi-regular appearances all around the area at coffee houses and similar venues. They played the 1999 Walnut Valley Festival -- again, see the Timeline to see how the Dixie Chicks' history comes full circle.

  These pictures are from a concert sponsored by Wichita State University radio station KMUW on September 30, 1999. Blue Plate Special opened for Druha Trava, a bluegrass band from Czechoslovakia (!). The group members, from left to right, are Ken White, Robin Macy Bennett, Mark Bennett (Robin's husband), Vickie Theobald, and Mike Theobald

  • Blue Plate Special (384x230, 45k, JPEG format)
    A shot of the whole band, though Robin is upstaged by a guitar neck!
  • Blue Plate Special (415x242, 112k, JPEG format)
    Another angle, with a better shot of Robin.
  • Robin and Mark Bennett (large) (616x806, 280k, JPEG format)
    An enlarged scan of just the two players from the image above.
  • Robin and Mark Bennett (308x368, 92k, JPEG format)
    Same scan at a smaller size.
  • Blue Plate Special (310x262, 66k, JPEG format)
    Edge-on -- Robin is not very visible in this picture. But you can see the (unused) drum set and instruments ready for Druha Trava's set.

  After he scanned the images, Gary sent me this note:

  BTW, it just so happens that I encountered Robin yesterday, at the Wild Bird store.

  I introduced myself and told her I had taken some pix at the WSU concert and had uploade them to the "unofficial Dixie Chicks site"...she said: "SHAME on YOU!" <grin>

  Gary

  Everyone who has encountered Robin agrees she's a classy lady who prefers to stand on her own -- not as "the former Dixie Chick". A casual listen to the Dixie Chicks old material from Robin's days as lead singer and guitar player will let you know what the Chicks lost when Robin left.

• Laura, Martie, and Emily in Austin, June 1995
  Added 12/22/1998. All images © Copyright Graeme Flanagan, Canberra, Australia. Used with permission.
  In 1995, Graeme and Jill Flanagan, from Canberra, Australia, were on an extended vacation through the US and Europe. Their travels brought them to Austin, the political and musical capitol of Texas, and to the city's reknowned Broken Spoke Saloon. On Friday, June 2, 1995, the Flanagans joined the crowd to enjoy what would be one of Laura Lynch's last performances with the Dixie Chicks.

  In the months following the concert, Texas music legend Lloyd Maines would suggest his daughter Natalie Maines for the lead spot -- a suggestion that would eventually lead to triple-platinum success for the group. But there was no hint of trouble in June, when Graeme Flanagan took these great photos of the band in concert. The full story will be detailed on my Stories page (sign up for my update announcement list to be notified when I post it).

  • Laura on guitar (264x400, 23k, JPEG format)
    Laura Lynch plays guitar and sings on stage at the Broken Spoke, wearing a light green western shirt (with pink collar) and blue jeans. This picture is a bit dark (the others are perfect!), but the player in the background is indeed Emily Erwin.
  • Martie on fiddle (400x271, 25k, JPEG format)
    Recently married Martie Seidel, in a plain white sleeveless blouse, "sawin' on her fiddle and playin' it hot" (to paraphrase Charlie Daniels).
  • Emily on dobro (271x400, 28k, JPEG format)
    In forest green blouse and jeans, Emily Erwin is pickin' and grinnin' for the camera. This is a good picture of a dobro in action -- it looks like a guitar, but it's held almost horizontally. The sound is similar to a steel guitar.
  • The Chicks with Rusty Weir (266x400, 28k, JPEG format)
    Rusty Weir doesn't have a discography on CDnow, but he's widely known as one of Texas' legendary Country Music Outlaws. You might have some luck finding him at Dallas' CD Bargains.com or Alt.Country specialists Miles Of Music.

    This picture captures Weir jamming with the Chicks for a couple of sets. Laura is in the foreground (with better lighting, though she's not facing the camera), and Martie is in the background wearing her "holy" jeans. You know, now she can pay someone $100 to put holes in her jeans, but I think these got there the old-fashioned way.

• On the Cusp of Fame, December 1997
  Added 11/16/1998. All images © Copyright 1998, Phil Casella. Used with permission.
  Sony never saw it coming. In December, 1997, the Dixie Chicks' debut single I Can Love You Better was knocking on the door of the country Top 40, and the Dixie Chicks were barnstorming through country radio stations across the USA (see the Stories page for an example).

  But Sony hadn't put together a web site yet, and the Chicks had outgrown their old home at austinlinks.com. Enter Phil Casella and Pacific Internet Design, a Reno-based outfit with an impressive client list. Phil's company registered dixiechicks.com on December 17, 1997, and prepared to give the Chicks a substantial presence on the 'net.

  Alas, it was not to be. When Sony finally realized what they had, their own marketing machine kicked into high gear. A "change of direction" took place. The innocently, teasingly insightful Winter 1997 Chick Chat was the last newsletter sent to the thousands of fans who had followed the group from the start. Sony finally revved up their own Dixie Chicks pages to full throttle, and dixiechicks.com faded into oblivion -- only to rise again a year later as the host for this very site! For the full story of dixiechicks.com, see the Site History page.

  Phil did get a chance to take some pictures of the Dixie Chicks while they were working out the preliminary details of the site, and he has graciously given his permission for me to reproduce these pictures here. Please do not copy these pictures to your own site without permission -- or at least, don't post them without noting that they remain © Copyright 1998, Phil Casella. Give credit where credit is due.

  • Natalie at the mike (250x184, 21k, JPEG format) and laughing on the air (215x218, 21k, JPEG format)
    Natalie at the studios of KBUL, Reno.
  • On Stage (249x152, 15k, JPEG format)
    This is a Dixie Chicks concert the way it used to be -- no big backup band, no fancy lights or sound board, just three talented ladies singin' and pickin' their hearts out. Photographed somewhere in Reno.
  • Natalie and Emily (250x152, 15k, JPEG format)
    Same concert. Emily's playing the dobro.
  • Martie and Natalie (250x152, 14k, JPEG format)
    Martie is resting her fiddle while joining in a chorus. Who's that shadowy figure in the background...?
  • Play that guitar, Tommy! (250x152, 17k, JPEG format)
    It's Tommy Nash, along with Martie and Natalie. Tommy plays the hell out of the guitar, and Natalie gets the contract with Fender. Go figure!
  • The "Chickie" Font (310x194, 28k, JPEG format)
    If this version of the picture of the Chicks on stage had made it online, it would have been the first appearance of the now-famous "Chickie" font. This font was used in the final newsletter and on the first single, and seems to represent their departure from the ranch-inspired headline text of older days.
  • The Chicks and Phil (450x328, 44k, JPEG format)
    A Portrait of the Artist surrounded by Chicks. Why is this man smiling?

• December 1997, Reno, Nevada
  Added [tbd]. All images © Copyright 1998, Phil Casella. Used with permission.
  Coming soon, pictures from an outdoor concert in Reno before I Can Love You Better hit the Top 40.

  Martie Erwin

• Early Publicity Photo (350x459, 155k, JPEG format)
  Added 10/12/1998. Photo and scan courtesy of Jay Rury, thumbnail by Cryptic Productions.
  This autographed publicity photo is one of the Dixie Chicks' earliest, if not their first. Since it includes the "Cowgirl Band" graphic (lower left corner), it probably dates to shortly after the 1990 release of Thank Heavens For Dale Evans. Left to right are Martie Erwin, Robin Lynn Macy, Emily Erwin, and Laura Lynch.

  Other Views

  • Top half (450x261, 89k, JPEG format)
  • Smaller version (200x262, 58k, JPEG format)

  

• Little Ol' Cowgirl
  Added 10/22/1998. Image cleanup by Cryptic Productions.
  The Dixie Chicks' transition album features four pictures of the original Chicks. Robin left shortly after Little Ol' Cowgirl was released, and the CD features her replacement Matthew Benjamin playing guitar on two tracks. For more information, visit my Little Ol' Cowgirl .mp3 sound samples page.

  Views

  • All four Chicks with Laura's Cactus Bass (416x418, 50k, JPEG format)
    Left to right: Martie Erwin with frilly chaps, Emily Erwin in broomstick miniskirt, the Cactus Bass, Laura Lynch wearing western frills, and Robin Lynn Macy in sequined black dress.
    For more info on the Cactus Bass, see the Autumn, 1992 issue of the Chick Chat.
  • Martie Erwin and Emily Erwin (445x450, 42k, JPEG format)
    Pictured kneeling, with their instruments (fiddle and banjo).
  • Laura Lynch and Robin Lynn Macy (445x460, 56k, JPEG format)
    Pictured standing, with their instruments (modernistic bass and guitar).
  • The original quartet (416x225, 29k, JPEG format)
    The original four Dixie Chicks (in the same outfits as in the Cactus Bass picture), from the back cover of the CD. Left to right: Robin Lynn Macy (in white cowboy hat), Emily Erwin, Laura Lynch, and Martie Erwin.

  Patty Lege, Sara Hickman, and Robin Lynn Macy

• Robin Lynn Macy and Domestic Science Club
  Added 12/29/1998. Image cleanup by Cryptic Productions.
  After Robin Macy left the group, she teamed up with popular Texas songstress Sara Hickman and frequent songwriting collaborator Patty Lege to form a new acoustically oriented group, the Domestic Science Club. Their first release was actually intended as a Christmas present for friends of the ladies, but one of those friends was a DJ, who played the disc, and the rest is history. See the Special Treats page for sound samples from this release, which is currently completely out of print and unavailable.

  Views

  • Patty, Sara, and Robin (672x537, 80k, JPEG format)
    The album cover is pretty simple; just this picture (a smaller version is shown above), plus the group's '50s-inspired logo (426x171, 15k, GIF format).
  • Made Especially For You by... (337x151, 13k, JPEG format)
    Each copy of the CD included a sewing tag of the sort you can order through any crafts magazine. They credited the company in the liner notes:
    "Label used with kind permission from NAME MAKER INC., Quality since 1938"

• The New, All-Blonde Dixie Chicks (479x372, 59k, JPEG format)
  Added 10/22/1998. Image cleanup by Cryptic Productions.
  This publicity shot, rescued from the trash folder of the now-defunct Official Dixie Chicks Site at austinlinks.com, is the first picture I ever saw of Natalie Maines and probably dates to shortly after she joined in 1995. Note that all three New Chicks have long, blonde hair, making them nearly indistinguishable! Fortunately, they put their names on the picture so you can easily identify (left to right) Martie Seidel, Natalie Maines, and Emily Erwin.

• Autographed Billboard Top 10 (637x825, 215k, JPEG format)
  Added 12/18/1998.
  When we went to the Chicks' concert at In Cahoots in Oklahoma City, we wanted them to sign something unique. Then, the Thursday before we drove up from Dallas, Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart showed that the first single, I Can Love You Better, had reached the Top 10 on the most respected of all Country Charts. So that's what we took for them to sign!

  I told them that I was the one who was keeping them posted on a few dozen online radio playlists, and Martie and Emily seemed as interested as could be possible after a long set in front of a drunk, rowdy crowd. See my Charts Page for more details.

  

• Old Dixie Chicks Logos
  • At right is the logo from Thank Heavens For Dale Evans (90x91, 4k, GIF format). The Chicks used it in the early days, and even had little round Chick Stickers printed up. You can also view a 5k, 112x112 raw scan of the logo.
    Added 12/18/1998. Cleanup by Cryptic Productions.

  • Special Bonus! Now you can download my Old Chicks Screen Saver! It's the logo at right, bouncing across your screen. It should run on just about any Windows system (Win95 or 3.1), and only requires a 256-color monitor. Let me know how it looks on your system! This was just a "quickie" program I hacked together, so I can make no guarantees (except that I did run a virus scan on it).
    • Old Chicks Screen Saver (33k, ZIP format, unzipped .scr avail on request)
      To install: Download the .zip file to any convenient directory. Unzip it and put the OldChick.scr file in your Windows directory.
      Added 01/08/1999. (c) 1999 Robert Brooks, for free distribution by any method you like.

  • The austinlinks.com site also included a Chicks Boutique page. The only item remaining when the site was tossed in the Trash was this picture of a T-Shirt featuring the Nightingales O' The Prairie Logo (274x274, 21k, GIF format). I'll be able to make a clearer scan of this logo from the old issues of the Chick Chat soon. Added 12/21/1998.

  • Coming Soon: the Ribbon Logo used on publicity photos and the Shouldn't A Told You That album cover.
  
  

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Last update: 10/13/1999 by Robert Brooks
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