SXSW 2010: Court Yard Hounds At Austin Convention Center
by Mario Tarradell for the Dallas Morning News
Emily Robison and sister Martie Maguire, two-thirds of the multi-million-selling country
trio Dixie Chicks, took the Day Stage Friday afternoon at the Austin Convention Center. The pair are Court
Yard Hounds, a side project sans Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines that's celebrating its
unveiling at SXSW. Backed by three musicians, Maguire on fiddle and Robison on acoustic guitar and dobro
performed three songs from the upcoming Hounds self-titled debut CD scheduled for release May 4. It was a criminally short
show, but we got the gist of the Hounds sound - country-bluegrass-pop but with a purer, sweeter tone than that of the Chicks.
The familiar harmonies by Robison and Maguire were wonderful, particularly during "The Coast" and "Then Again." Maguire played
beautiful fiddle, Robison jammed her dobro. Here's hoping we hear some Hounds tunes during the upcoming Dixie Chicks tour
with the Eagles.
