Before The Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) burst onto the country music scene in the mid-1990s with Wide Open Spaces and Fly, they were a regionally successful bluegrass act that, despite their home state popularity, struggled to break into the mainstream. During this time, the lineup looked different than the trio that put out hits like “Wide Open Spaces” and “There’s Your Trouble”.
Indeed, before there was Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, and Emily Strayer, there were Martie and Emily Erwin, the only two original members of The Chicks, Robin Lynn Macy, and Laura Lynch. Macy left the group by 1992, and Lynch left in 1995. The latter artist, who played standup bass and sang in the group’s original iteration, would have been 67 on November 18, 2025.
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Tragically, Lynch died in a head-on car collision at 65 years old two years earlier. Lynch technically left the group before their big break. But she still played a critical role in The Chicks’ evolution from busking bluegrassers to pop-country stars.
Lynch was famously tight-lipped about the exact reasons behind her departure in 1995. However, some comments she made immediately after her “resignation” suggested it had to do with her being 14 years older than the group’s youngest member. “The group’s called the Dixie Chicks,” Lynch once said. “When I was out there on the road having a bad day, it was awfully hard to be a Chick.”
Laura Lynch Served As a Reminder of What the Chicks Were Like Pre-Fame (And Pre-Controversy)
As the old cliché goes, everything happens for a reason. Perhaps Laura Lynch, later Laura Lynch Tull, would have left The Dixie Chicks anyway. In a 2003 interview with the El Paso Times, Lynch talked about how much she revered former President George W. Bush. “That’s who I am,” she told her local newspaper. Considering the massive controversy The Dixie Chicks found themselves in when Lynch’s replacement, Natalie Maines, publicly denounced Bush, we’d imagine that would have caused quite a bit of friction amongst the musicians. Perhaps it was best Lynch wasn’t there for that after all.
In 1995, when the band first made their announcement about Lynch’s departure, they characterized the move as a “passing of the baton.” Besides those few, passing comments from Lynch that it had to do with her age (record labels are notorious for wanting fresh, young faces, after all), the founding member and upright bass player was pretty tight-lipped about the whole ordeal. She later admitted that it never feels good to be replaced. We’d imagine the fact that her replacement was the daughter of Lloyd Maines, who had previously worked with the group, didn’t do much to soothe the sting.
Nevertheless, without Lynch, there likely wouldn’t have been any Dixie Chicks (or Chicks) to speak of. The Erwin sisters are certainly talented multi-instrumentalists. But every good bluegrass band needs someone holding down the low end on the upright. That role became less important as The Chicks moved into a pop-country sound more indicative of the times.
In a statement following Lynch’s death in 2023, The Chicks wrote, “Laura was a bright light. Her infectious energy and humor gave a spark to the early days of our band.”
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