COURT YARD HOUNDS

Two former Chicks find a new confidence on their second set

Martie Maguire and Emily Robison were still forging an identity beyond the Dixie Chicks when they released a self-titled album as Court Yard Hounds in 2010. Now the sisters are back with a second effort, Amelita—and with it comes a deeper confidence about their musical direction. Their first album was personal, but Maguire and Robison turned their focus outward on Amelita, creating stories removed from their own experiences. The result is 11 songs steeped in country, with folk, pop and even mariachi influences. “I like this record a lot better than the first,” says Maguire. “I finally feel like this is a real band.”

How did your approach change?

We wanted to establish that the first album wasn’t a one-off, and take the initial sound we created and expand upon it. We wanted to approach the second record with more confidence as we figured out what works. We made a conscious effort to write together more. On the first album, I wrote some with Emily and Martin Strayer, but mainly it was Emily sending me songs she was writing about a tough time she was going through. On this album we were looking outside more. We were writing about different characters and not just our own pain.

What inspired the characters?

“Amelita,” for example, came from the Dixie Chicks video shoot for “Long Time Gone” that we did in Reynosa, a border town in Mexico. We shook that feeling of being so sheltered and privileged in our own lives when we walked out of our trailer and there was basically a brothel right where we were shooting. That really stuck with us. We created this fictional character around those working girls.

Is Amelita a personal record?

I was going through a divorce at the time—funny, it seems like every time Emily is getting married, I’m getting divorced, and when I’m getting married, she’s getting divorced. It’s happened that way twice. Still, I decided not to write as therapy. I wanted to picture a world beyond that, so a lot of the songs aren’t about us.

Are you a country act?

I always think our records are country. I thought Taking the Long Way was country with the Chicks. I can’t get away from country, and I don’t want to. I’ve always been a huge fan—I grew up listening to it. With the background and instrumentation we have, there’s no way not to be country—though there are folky elements.

Natalie’s new album was rock covers.

I think it shows what she was more into as far as musical inspiration. She’s always wanted to be more rock. It’s great that she branched out. Artists need to grow and go into territory that’s unfamiliar. That’s been a good lesson for us, to push ourselves—or you get stagnant. I don’t think it was time to make another Chicks record. I don’t think that’s where our heads are now.

How does writing for Court Yard Hounds differ from the Chicks?

Because our following and expectations got so big, it became constrictive to write for the Chicks. It’s more open-ended and a lot easier to write for Court Yard Hounds. We have that mentality of, “Let’s just write and see if those songs should have a life beyond Court Yard Hounds.” I like that freedom.

–Eric R. Danton