Martie Maguire

Martie Maguire
Maguire performing at SXSW, Austin, Texas in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Martha Elenor Erwin
Also known as	Martie Seidel, Martie Maguire
Born	(1969-10-12) October 12, 1969 (age 55) York, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Alternative country country bluegrass country rock folk
Occupations	Musician songwriter record producer arranger
Instruments	Violin viola guitar double bass mandolin mandocaster vocals fiddle
Years active	1989–present
Labels	SonyBMG Open Wide Columbia
Member of	The Chicks
Formerly of	Court Yard Hounds
Spouses	Ted Seidel ​ ​ (m. 1995; div. 1999)​ Gareth Maguire ​ ​ (m. 2001; div. 2013)​ Clem Moore ​ (m. 2022)​
Website	thechicks.com courtyardhounds.com

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.

Maguire learned several instruments at a young age, honing her skills with her younger sister, Emily Strayer (born Emily Erwin) 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 being blacklisted by many country radio stations.^[1]