(LibertySons.org) – Nikol Endres, Hudspeth County, Texas, Justice of the Peace, confirmed the death of Laura Lynch, 65, a founding member of the Dixie Chicks, as the result of a tragic head-on accident on rural west Texas Route 62 on Friday, December 22. The Grammy Award-winning group issued a statement honoring their bandmate and longtime bass player.
Lynch’s death “shocked and saddened” her old group members. They wrote on Instagram that she held a special place in their hearts, and they would always remember their times together playing music, laughing, and traveling. They credited Lynch with propelling them from playing on street corners in Dallas “to stages across Texas and the mid-West.”
In addition to playing bass, Lynch sang lead vocals when she, Robin Lynn Macy, and sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire formed the band in Dallas in 1989. By day, she was reportedly a stockbroker in Dallas while the band worked its way up from playing street corners on weekends for donations and playing what Lynch called “fried-egg jobs,” where the band played Sunday mornings at barbeque shacks. Lynch said the establishments would either pay or feed the band.
By 1991, the band began to find traction with their unique brand of “cowgirl” music, as Lynch called it. Macy left the band in 1992. The band played at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. Yet, in 1995, the band dismissed Lynch, then 37, replacing her with then-21-year-old Natalie Maines as their lead singer. She left before the band’s political controversies, primarily surrounding Maines’ comments.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) reported Lynch was traveling eastbound on Route 62 in her Ford F-150. A Dodge Ram traveling westbound attempted to pass another vehicle on the two-lane road about seven miles west of Cornudas, Texas and hit Lynch’s truck head-on. First responders transported the driver of the Dodge to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. TXDPS is continuing to investigate the accident.
Lynch was the only Texas native in The Chicks. She grew up on her grandfather’s ranch near the Mexican border.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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