Dixie Chicks Founding Member Laura Lynch Dies After Car Crash

Laura Lynch, a Texas-based musician who was one of the founding members of the Dixie Chicks, has died at the age of 65, according to multiple media reports.

Lynch’s cousin, Michael West, tells CBS News that she died after a car accident in West Texas on Friday evening (Dec. 22). Details of the accident were not immediately available.

Lynch co-founded the Dixie Chicks in 1989 along with sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, as well as Robin Lynn Macy. Macy and Lynch served as co-lead vocalists in the group until 1993, including on their first two albums, 1990’s Thank Heavens for Dale Evans and Little Ol’ Cowgirl in 1992. Lynch handled all of the lead vocals on their third album, Shouldn’t a Told You That, after Macy departed in 1993.

Lynch also left the group after that, and Natalie Maines joined Maguire and Strayer to form the group’s best-known lineup as a trio.

That lineup would go on to become one of the most successful in country music beginning with Wide Open Spaces in 1998 and Fly in 1999. They shortened their name to the Chicks in 2020 to address the word “Dixie” and its longstanding association with slavery.

The Chicks posted a statement online to accompany a video of Lynch with the group, remembering her early contributions to the band: