Court Yard Hounds

Court Yard Hounds
Maguire, left, and Robison, right, performing at Antone's, SXSW, Austin, Texas, March 17, 2010
Background information
Origin	San Antonio, Texas, United States
Genres	Country, Folk, Bluegrass
Years active	2010—present
Labels	Columbia
Associated acts	Dixie Chicks
Website	www.courtyardhounds.com
Members	Martie Maguire Emily Robison

Court Yard Hounds is an American country music and folk duo, founded by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison. They, along with Natalie Maines, make up 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.

Emily and Martie Erwin, now Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, founded the Dixie Chicks in 1989 with Robin Lynn Macy (lead vocals) and Laura Lynch. They released two independent albums before Macy left, and their third album was released with Lynch on lead vocals. In 1995, Lynch left and was replaced by Natalie Maines. The group was then signed to Monument Records and released two hit albums, before departing from Monument in 2000 and founding their own label, Open Wide Records, in association with Columbia Records. They then released their third album Home to critical acclaim. During a London concert ten days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, lead vocalist Maines stated, " Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all, we don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas" (the trio's home state). The statement offended some people who thought it rude and unpatriotic, and the ensuing controversy cost the group half of their concert audience attendance in the United States and led to accusations of the three women being un-American, as well as hate mail, death threats, and the public destruction of their albums in protest. The group followed a small hiatus with a live album and a documentary highlighting the maelstrom created by Maines' comment. The Dixie Chicks released Taking the Long Way in 2006 which has since sold over 3 million copies and ultimately won five Grammy Awards. The Dixie Chicks have been on hiatus since 2008. in 2016 they reformed for a world tour.