Dixie Chicks to perform at UA for scholarship fund-raiser

By Zach Thomas

Arizona Daily Wildcat

University of Arizona undergraduates may soon find their education supplemented by the music business.

That is, if they qualify for scholarships.

The Dixie Chicks, a Dallas-based country music band, will hold a concert at Centennial Hall Friday and will donate proceeds to undergraduate scholarships for UA students.

They also agreed to donate a percentage of Friday's album sales to the scholarship cause.

"I'm still paying back my student loans," said Martie Seidel, the group's violinist. "Everyone deserves a chance to go to school. That's our number one."

This is a new category of scholarship funding, said Dennis Evans, associate dean for external affairs for the College of Humanities.

Sponsored jointly by the Arizona Faculty of the Humanities, the Humanities Seminars Program and the Associated Students, a successful concert could mark the beginning of a series to promote the undergraduate scholarship cause, said David Soren, a classics professor and the concert's coordinator.

"We aren't music promoters, but we wanted to see if we could help undergraduate education," Soren said.

The Dixie Chicks, include Seidel, banjo player Emily Erwin and lead vocalist Laura Lynch.

The group began as a street band, but recently signed with Sony for production of their fourth compact disc. They have opened for acts like Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks.

The Dixie Chicks also performed at the 1993 Clinton presidential inauguration, the Grand Ole Opry and a Dallas Cowboys football game.

The group's name, derived from a Little Feat song, used to be the Dixie Chickens, but later was changed after fans confused them with a restaurant, Seidel said.

Soren's group also contacted James Taylor, the Gin Blossoms and the Indigo Girls about performing in the concert, but the bands turned the offer down, he said.

Tickets can be purchased at Centennial Hall, Dillards and Hear's Music for $12 and $14. Students and KXCI members are eligible for a $2 discount. For more information, call the Centennial Hall box office at 621-3341.

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