(DailyDig.com) – A head-on vehicle collision in West Texas on December 22 in the evening claimed the life of Laura Lynch, 65. She co-founded The Dixie Chicks in 1989 (now The Chicks) with sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire.
In a statement, the Chicks paid tribute to Lynch, whose early contributions helped launch the band to fame. The news of Laura’s death had startled and saddened them, they claimed. The moments they had making music, traveling, and laughing together are treasured memories. Laura was a ray of sunshine; her boundless enthusiasm and hilarious antics sparked the early years of their band.
Lynch had a deep affection for anything Texas and a talent for design, as the band members Emily, Martie, and Natalie went on to remark. They went from performing on the streets to venues in Texas and the Midwest because of her indisputable abilities. Their deepest sympathies go out to her loved ones during this difficult moment.
The Texas Department of Public Safety subsequently released details of the collision that occurred on a highway west of El Paso, and Lynch’s cousin Michael Lynch later verified her death.
Lynch, who was also the band’s co-lead singer and upright bass player, helped form the Dixie Chicks in the late ’80s with sisters Emily and Martie and Robin Lynn Macy. The band did produce two albums as a quartet: “Thank Heavens for Dale Evans” in 1990 and “Little Ol’ Cowgirl” in 1992. After Macy’s departure, the band became a trio.
In 1993, the Dixie Chicks, with Lynch, released their third studio album, “Shouldn’t a Told You That,” continuing their musical collaboration. Lloyd Maines, the steel guitarist whose work was included on that album, introduced his daughter Natalie to the two Erwin sisters, who would later replace Lynch in the group. It took the then-Dixie Chicks five years to deliver “Wide Open Spaces,” their breakthrough album in 1998.
In 2020, during the summer, not long after George Floyd died, the band rebranded as The Chicks.
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