Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines moving on as solo artist

The Associated Press, Saturday, March 16, 2013, 12:15pm (PDT)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Natalie Maines barely spoke between tunes while performing songs from her new solo album at the South by Southwest music festival this week.

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Now 38, Maines seemed more nervous on stage than she did as the former Dixie Chicks spitfire who slammed then-President George W. Bush almost 10 years ago, forever changing the country group's fate and fortunes.

Looking slimmer and sporting a punkish pompadour, Maines played songs from her debut solo album "Mother" to a decent-sized crowd.

Maines is candid about the past and guarded about the future. When asked, she declined to predict whether the Dixie Chicks might reunite after going on hiatus in 2007.