By Clarice Burger
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Martha Elenor Maguire (née Erwin, previously Seidel; October 12, 1969) is an American musician who is a founding member of the country band the Chicks and the country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in national fiddle championships while still a teenager. Maguire is accomplished on several other instruments, including the mandolin, viola, double bass and guitar. She has written and co-written a number of the band’s songs, some of which have become chart-topping hits. She also contributes her skills in vocal harmony and backing vocals, as well as orchestrating string arrangements for the band.
Martie learned several instruments at a young age, honing her skills with her younger sister, Emily and two schoolmates (a brother and sister team, Troy and Sharon Gilchrist) for over five years as a part of a touring bluegrass quartet while in high school. After graduation, the sisters forged an alliance with two other women they had met through the Dallas music scene, Laura Lynch and Robin Lynn Macy, forming a bluegrass and country music band, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits for six years. After the departure of Macy, and the replacement of Lynch with singer Natalie Maines, the band widened their musical repertoire and appearance. The result was a trio so commercially successful that it took the country music industry by surprise, with 19 singles hitting the Billboard Country Charts, 2 Diamond Albums, 2 Platinum albums, and 13 Grammy Awards. Maguire subsequently stood by her bandmates as they were engulfed in a 2003 controversy for criticizing George W. Bush, which led to the Chicks receiving less airplay from several country radio stations.
Nicknamed Martie, was born October 12, 1969, in York, Pennsylvania.
Encouraged by her parents – educators at private schools – Martie began playing violin at age five, and by age 12, started to learn to play “fiddle style” after receiving a birthday gift of fiddle lessons. She also was active in her school orchestra.
Her sister Emily shared her love and interest in music, and displayed early talent herself. The two sisters were provided musical instruction on several instruments, and their talent for vocal harmony continued to be nurtured. Although Maguire became famous for her harmony and mastery of the fiddle, she also plays a variety of strings that include the viola, guitar, mandolin, and double bass. Maguire composes songs and arranges the use of stringed instruments for concert and recording performances.
In 1989, Martie and Emily joined guitarist Robin Lynn Macy and Laura Lynch on double bass in the Dixie Chicks, playing what was at the time predominantly bluegrass music and a mix of country standards. Originally listed as Martha, and then Martie Erwin, she played fiddle, mandolin, viola and harmonized with Emily on backing vocals.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- King Edward VI of England –
- Elmer Sperry (inventor) –
- Eugenio Montale (poet) –
- Doris Miller (Navy Cross recipient) –
- Luciano Pavarotti (opera singer) –
- Chris Wallace (broadcast journalist) –
- Hugh Jackman (actor) –
- Martie Maguire (musician, member of Dixie Chicks) –
- Kirk Cameron (actor) –
- Marion Jones (athlete) –
Died
- Robert E. Lee (American Confederate general) –
- John Denver (musician) –
- Wilt Chamberlain (basketball player) –
- Ray Conniff (bandleader) –
- Bill Shoemaker (jockey) –
Events
- Christopher Columbus first saw New World –
- Bavarian Crown Price Ludwig married Princess Therese of Hildburghausen in Munich. Their wedding celebration lasted for days, and became a yearly tradition known today as “Oktoberfest.” –
- An iron lung respirator used for the first time in Boston, MA –
- The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show made its television debut. Burns and Allen had been on the radio since 1935 –
- Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson won Nobel Peace Prize –
- U.S.S.R.’s Voskhod 1 launched –
- The U.S. Navy concluded its Sealab II program, in which teams of aquanauts lived and worked in a capsule submerged off the California coast –
- 19th Summer Olympic games began, Mexico City, Mexico –
- Jesus Christ Superstar, the Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, premieres in New York –
- Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize –
Weather
- The Columbus Day “Big Blow” in Oregon and Washington brought 100 mph winds, damaging trees and killing 48 people –
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