Laura Lynch, co-founder of the Dixie Chicks, dies at 65

Laura Lynch, a founding member of the country music group the Dixie Chicks, died in a car crash on Friday, according to authorities. She was 65.

The death and Lynch’s identity were confirmed by Nikol Endres, a justice of the peace in the area.

Lynch, of Fort Worth, Texas, was driving east on Route 62 near Cornudas, Texas, about 70 miles east of El Paso, when a pickup truck that had been heading west crossed into her lane and struck her pickup truck head on, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

After being raised on her grandfather’s ranch in Texas, Lynch, a bassist, founded the Dixie Chicks, now known as the Chicks, in Dallas in 1988 with Robin Lynn Macy, and sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire.

The original lineup only had two albums together: the debut Thank Heavens for Dale Evans in 1990 and Little Ol’ Cowgirl in 1992.

In an interview with National Public Radio that aired in 1992, Lynch referred to the band’s music as “cowgirl music.”

“Our brand of cowgirl music is a mixture of old-time country music, bluegrass music, acoustic,” she said. “We all sing three-part and four-part harmony. We throw in some instrumentals, some country swing. That’s our brand of cowgirl music.”

Macy left the band in 1992. The next year, the remaining trio released Shouldn’t A Told You That, and began to experience moderate success. In 1993, the band played at an inaugural ball for President Bill Clinton.

But in 1995, Lynch was dismissed from the group and replaced by Natalie Maines.

“We were facing going on our seventh year, we were starting to reevaluate things,” Maguire told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1996. “We were making a future decision.”

Added Maguire: “What do we want to do in the future, where do we want to be in five years? I don’t think Laura really saw herself on the road five years from now.”

On social media, the Chicks called Lynch a “bright light” whose “infectious energy and humor gave a spark to the early days of our band.”

“Laura had a gift for design, a love of all things Texas and was instrumental in the early success of the band,” the Chicks said. “Her undeniable talents helped propel us beyond busking on street corners to stages all across Texas and the mid-West.”

Information about survivors was not immediately available.

After leaving the Dixie Chicks, Lynch went on to become a public relations officer with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, according to The Star-Telegram.

Lynch told The Associated Press in 2003 that she took up oil painting and spent much of her time raising her daughter.

“It was worth it,” Lynch said of her time in the band. “I’d get anemic all over again to do it."