The Dixie Chicks Reveal The Real Reason Behind Their Hiatus

The Dixie Chicks made their long-awaited return on Wednesday (March 4) with the release of their fiery new single, “Gaslighter.”

To celebrate the debut of the song and their return to the spotlight, the Dixie Chicks’ Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Strayer sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to chat about everything from their years-long hiatus, to their new music and more.

Addressing the reason behind waiting 14 years between albums, the trio explained that raising their children took top priority.

“Well the kids — our nine kids, collectively — are why we paused for so long. And I’m finding out that teenagers are a lot harder than babies, not any easier,” Maguire explained on Beats 1 Radio’s New Music Daily show.

“Babies pull you off the road, teenagers push you back on,” Maines added.

With their kids getting older, Maguire is mother to daughter Harper, 11, and 15-year-old twins Eva and Katie; Maines is mom to two sons, Jackson, 18, and Beckett, 15; and Strayer has a son, Gus, 17, and 14-year-old twins, Julianna and Henry, the Dixie Chicks are ready to shift some of their focus back to their career.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9UunlDBVDw/

Their new album, which has been in the works for two years, arrives on May 1. The project was born after their initial writing session with producer Jack Antonoff. That session spawned “Gaslighter,” and it was then that they knew they had something special.

“It was the first song we wrote with Jack Antonoff,” Strayer explained. “At the time we thought we thought we were gonna write with a bunch of different people and get different producers and we wrote with him and we’re like, ‘He needs to produce it, and this needs to be the sound for this album,’ ’cause it was just, he blew us away, and it was such a fun song to start with.”

As for their kids, Maines says they’re some of their biggest fans.

“Yeah, you know, my boys are actually really supportive and really excited for the music and they are fans — they’re not too cool to like their mom’s job,” she shared.

While nothing has been confirmed, a tour page on the Dixie Chicks’ official website has fans thinking something else is also brewing with the Dixie Chicks. Fans can stay tuned to the trio’s social media accounts for updates.