2008 Dixie Chicks

In 1998, only a handful of people outside of Dallas, Texas knew who the Dixie Chicks were; today, it's an altogether different story as the Chicks are one of the most popular acts in contemporary country music.

The complete story began nearly a decade earlier -- in 1989 -- when fiddler Martie Seidel and her banjo-playing sister Emily Erwin formed the group in Dallas with bassist Laura Lynch and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy; they got an enormous boost when Seidel earned third place honors at the National Fiddle Championships. Originally, the Dixie Chicks (their name inspired by the Little Feat song "Dixie Chickens") promoted a cowgirl image, complete with a sound inspired by traditional country, folk and bluegrass; the title of their 1990 indie-label debut was Thank Heavens for Dale Evans.

Home, their long-awaited third album, was delayed indefinitely as Sony Records sued the Dixie Chicks for breach of contract after the trio tried to leave Sony over a royalties dispute. In August 2002, Home was released on Open Wide Records, a joint imprint between Sony and the Dixie Chicks, who have sold nearly 20 million albums since 1997 and earned Grammys for both their 1998 major-label debut Wide Open Spaces and their 1999 follow-up, Fly.