By Brian Mansfield, CDNow.com

If anybody deserved some time off, it was the Dixie Chicks. Since the release of their major-label debut in January 1998, the trio has sold more than 13 million copies of its albums Wide Open Spaces and Fly. They've opened tours for George Strait and Tim McGraw, and they played on the Lilith Fair. They received an Entertainer of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association without ever headlining their own tour.

So last November, the trio backed out of the spotlight, resurfacing only occasionally for such things as a performance of "Goodbye Earl" on the Grammy Awards telecast. But on June 1, the trio launches their Fly tour in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and continues on to 38 states over the next five months. We recently hooked up with lead singer Natalie Maines and guitarist-banjo player Emily Robison as they were making their summer plans.

CDNOW: The Dixie Chicks have been mostly out of the spotlight for several months. What have you done with that time?

Natalie Maines: Well, I got a puppy [a bulldog named Ralph]. Ralph's in one of the tour commercials. He's in one where Martie has the fight with the bellman and spills her bag full of shampoos and soaps. I'm pretentiously walking through the lobby [with him]; then he goes and investigates. He sniffs all the soaps and shampoos, plays the detective.

Somehow, it makes sense that you're a bulldog person.

Maines: They keep saying, "Owners always pick dogs that look like them." In a strange way, we probably do look alike -- our short, round heads. I don't snore near as loud as he does.

I've also been painting a lot. It's a newfound passion.

Are you any good?

Maines: I'm getting a little better. This last one I did was a little better than the others. This one's worth framing.

What do you like to paint?

Maines: It's all abstract. I can't paint, you know, a real thing. I couldn't paint a person or even an animal, any sort of landscape or anything. Nothing real, just all visions in my mind. A lot of color. It wouldn't make sense to anyone else, but I'm actually saying something in my painting.

"I find that I'm not as noticeable as a brunette, and that's wonderful at this stage in my life. I can go to the grocery store." -- Emily Robison

Did you work on any interesting projects or sit in with anybody during your time off?

Emily Robison: We've all kind of done little projects here and there. Martie and I played on an Emmylou track for an upcoming Ashley Judd movie. And we were all in the studio with Ricky Skaggs, working on his Bill Monroe tribute.

Back when he opened for us in North Carolina last year, he told us he was putting together this thing, knowing that we came from bluegrass and that we'd really like to be a part of it. We've gotten a lot of offers throughout our time off to do all these projects, and that was one that was always a priority for us. We went in and did "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine." I'm not sure when the album's coming out; he's finishing it up right now.

Maines: I did a duet with Stevie Nicks for her album that she's been working on for a long time and has no idea when it's going to be done. That was fine with us because then it won't conflict with ours. It was a ton of fun and a little intimidating. It was one of those moments, that we still have, where we're sitting in a room, going, "Oh � my � God."

We were at [Mike Campbell's] one of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers' house. Sheryl Crow was producing, and I was surrounded by all these wonderful musicians, going, "I'm not worthy."

Emily, do people treat you differently now that you're a brunette?

Robison: [Laughs] Well, I did it to be incognito, but now that the Grammys happened, I'm not incognito anymore. But a little bit. I find that I'm not as noticeable as a brunette, and that's wonderful at this stage in my life. I can go to the grocery store.

Actually, we just were at the grocery store, and I got recognized because I had sandals on, and my chicken feet were showing. And I'm so not used to that. Because of my brown hair, I haven't been recognized that much unless I'm at a show. I was getting my chicken salad from the deli.

You see, you should've ordered ham. It was the cumulative effect of the chicken impressions that did you in.

Robison: Exactly.

I've liked it a lot better, though. It's funny, we were shooting these commercials the other day, and the woman whose house we were renting to use for the TV shoot, said, "She dyed her hair brown?" The guys are like, "Yeah, yeah, she decided to do that." The woman's like, "Doesn't she want to be a Dixie Chick anymore?" As if that's the defining factor. It's like I'm out of the band now.

Who'll be opening for you on your tour?

Robison: We have three people, and we're very excited. Patty Griffin was one person we went to immediately and asked her if she'd do it. She's doing the majority of the tour. So we're so excited.

So who gets to do "Let Him Fly"?

Robison: Of course, we do. We haven't even talked about that, but she might come up and sing it with us. We're still working out all that kind of stuff.

And Ricky Skaggs is doing about 11 dates. He did a show with us last year -- the only headlining show we did -- and people were just eating it up. It's kind of our "ode to bluegrass." And the other one is Willie Nelson.

How weird is it to have Willie Nelson opening for you?

Robison: I call it he's sharing the night with us. Not opening for us. He's going to do about seven dates with us, and I think he's going to do the last few dates of the tour, so that should be one big party.

"In a strange way, [my bulldog and I] probably do look alike -- our short, round heads." -- Natalie Maines

How'd you work that out?

Robison: Our initial idea was to get some of the country artists from previous years, to bring them back to the forefront and get some of the younger crowd, which we have mainly, to listen to them and open their ears to some of the people they might have missed due to age. But a lot of them were busy, and a lot of them couldn't do it. Willie was the one we just kept sticking with and sticking with. We felt that he would really add a lot of integrity to the tour. It's the philosophy of introducing our audience to some of our heroes.

I just called him. I really wanted to give it the personal touch -- we didn't want it to be an agency-to-agency kind of thing.

It wasn't working out at the beginning, and I'm like, "One of us should just call him and talk to him, and tell him what big fans we are." We'll work out the money; we'll work out all the stupid business stuff, but I just want him to know that it would be such an honor. I think that helped a little bit, helped him make his decision.

Me and my husband keep saving this one message that's on our answering machine at home. It's Willie, who had called me back -- "Hey � it's Willie Nelson � just calling you back." We keep saving it over and over again.

Previous Versions of Songs on Fly: