Natalie Maines
 

Dixie Chick Natalie Maines Announces Solo Album Is Completed
By Wendy Geller | Our Country – Fri, Dec 21, 2012 5:08 PM EST

Here's good and bad news for fans of the Dixie Chicks. First, the good news: Lead singer Natalie Maines has finally completed a solo album. The bad news? Well, it's actually only bad news for those who were hoping for a country record. Maines's solo set will be all rock.
"Happy Natalie Maines Finished Her Album Day everybody!" the singer tweeted on Wednesday, to much happy response from her followers. The new project is titled Mother, and according to Maines, will be released on May 7, 2013.

Maines first started hinting at the project earlier this year when she responded affirmatively to a fan tweet asking if she were thinking about doing anything solo. She told Howard Stern's Howard 100 News in June that her friend and fellow musician Ben Harper would be producing the album. In October, she confirmed on Twitter that the record would be rock and not country.

The title likely comes from the Pink Floyd tune of the same name, which Maines covered in a series of rare live appearances guesting on Harper's tour over the summer. She has already recorded the song for the soundtrack West of Memphis: Voices of Justice, which accompanies an upcoming documentary focusing on accused (and exonerated) murderers the West Memphis Three.

Maines has been largely out of the spotlight in the past few years, performing only sporadically and choosing instead to be a stay-at-home to her two sons with husband Adrian Pasdar.
Maines's bandmates Emily Robison and Martie Maguire are currently performing together as the Court Yard Hounds--they released their self-titled debut in 2010, but have yet to produce a follow-up. All three members of the Dixie Chicks claim the Chicks have not broken up, but no new music seems to be on the horizon for the women as a trio.

I am actually very excited to hear this one... thanks for the heads up! I've enjoyed the Dixie Chicks from day 1. I know Natalie was originally a rocker... she switched to country when she joined the Dixie Chicks. I always wondered how she would sound in her preferred genre, now I finally get that chance! :D

I'm excited for her rock album. I've never heard her sing rock, but I think it will be really great, she has a versatile voice I think .

Wow Thats news.I would like to hear it.I always like her and the chicks.

I remember when Olivia Newton -John did the change.

Taylor is more pop now.

Looking forward to hearing it as well.Olivia actually started out as pop when she was a star in the UK and competed in the Eurovision contest the year that ABBA won.She was never really accepted as country by many in Nashville back then and alot of them balked when she won a CMA award.Taylor is a no talent hack in any genre.

Natalie says that her stint in country music is tainted. She loves the Dixie Chicks but after everything that has happened, she feels weird doing country and rock is more her.

"Taking the Long Way", the latest Dixie Chicks album already went into a rock direction. I'm curious which members of Ben Harper's bands play on it.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-MENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! :thumbsup:

There's a VERY fine line between country & rock these days. Well, actually, there always has been. Hank Williams was really one of the first "rockers"...Chuck Berry's first hit ("Maybellene") was basically a country song. In the '60's, Buffalo Springfield, the Grateful Dead, The Byrds, NRPS, et al, delved deeply into the country sound. (Beatles & Stones, too..."I Don't Want To Spoil The Party", "What Goes On", "Wild Horses", "Dead Flowers", etc). In the 70's, of course, Poco & the Flying Burrito Bros made country palletable for rock fans, and obviously many of the Eagles' hits were pretty much country flavored. The Marshall Tucker Band, The Charlie Daniels Band, by today's standards ARE country bands.

I'm with you on this Louie! Really excited for this album. Love the Dixie Chicks and yeah, Natalie has the kind of voice that can really sing pretty much anything. I have high hopes for this one!

Wow, exciting news. I've always liked her voice, but was never a country fan. This is what got my attention: