Court Yard Hounds Debut New Music

The Court Yard Hounds' Martie Maguire and Emily Robison threw a virtual party for fans Tuesday night, December 7, as they hosted an interactive online chat and concert. The sisters, who also make up two-thirds of the Dixie Chicks, were accompanied by their band for the majority of the webcast, during which they chatted about new music and performed live from Martie's studio in Austin, Texas.

"We're going to play a couple songs that might be on a new Court Yard Hounds release of some sort," Emily told viewers. "The first one, we recorded for the last album but we didn't finish it so we played it live this last year," she explained before jumping into 'Like Fools.'

It's no surprise how quickly the chat questions turned to Christmas music, seeing as the holiday is right around the corner. "I don't know why we haven't [recorded Christmas music]," Martie admitted.

"It's hard to find those perfect songs that haven't been overdone," Emily explained. "New Christmas songs don't feel as ... "

"Kind of sappy?" Martie jumped in. "It would be cool to write Christmas music, but there's only one month when you feel like writing [it]. It would be really hard to do something totally unique, and maybe we're just putting too much pressure on ourselves."

The next new song from the girls was titled 'When You Wake.' "This is one we just wrote," Martie explained. "Martin on the guitar comes up with a lot of these licks and songs and he's been sending us stuff for a while. This is one we just put lyrics to yesterday."

Another new song the Hounds discussed was one that takes the duo in a new direction. "I started playing around with the sitar a few weeks ago on a song that we're working on," Emily said. "We'll see if it makes the cut. We're always looking for new sounds to incorporate."

Martie and Emily turned into a fit of giggles when they read a question about whether or not they'd release remixes of their songs. "If you're thinking remixes as far as dance club mixes, I don't think that's going to happen," Emily said with a laugh. Although, they did admit remixing older songs to give them a new feel has been on their minds.

One ambitious fan took the opportunity to ask if the Court Yard Hounds had a record label, and if they'd sign said fan. "Send us your demo," Emily exclaimed. "Simon, our manager, loves getting demos in the mail. Send it to him. [laughs] We kind of have a record label through our deal with Sony, what's it called? Open Wide. We never sign anybody, though."

The girls ended the show with a fan request, the Dixie Chicks' 'Lil' Jack Slade.'

The Court Yard Hounds will be taking a break from their webcast series through the end of 2010, but you'll be able to catch them on the road and the web in the New Year. Watch the entire webcast below.