Editing Emily Strayer (section)

==Early life==

Emily Erwin was born in [[Pittsfield, Massachusetts]]. Parents Paul Erwin and Barbara Trask moved the family to the suburban town of [[Addison, Texas]], on the northern edge of [[Dallas]], where she was raised with her two older sisters, Julia and [[Martie Maguire|Martha]]. Her parents were both educators and nurtured the growing interest that both Emily and Martha (later nicknamed Martie) shared, and together both sisters became proficient on several instruments while in elementary school.

Emily <!--She took the surname Strayer after her second marriage, thus, per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Biography#People_with_the_same_surname , is referred to as "Emily" to distinguish her from Martin.--> began playing the violin at age seven, and the [[banjo]] at age ten, afterward learning all the [[string instruments]] she could find.<ref name="Malkin">Malkin, Nina [http://chickoholic.tripod.com/DixieChicks/id8.html "A Little About Martie"], Dixie Chicks Henhouse (Retrieved December 31, 2007).</ref> Years later, Martie joked that Emily was better than she at the fiddle, and because she wanted to keep the fiddle as her instrument, she forced Emily to learn something else.<ref>{{cite video | title=[[Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing]] |date=2006 | medium=Motion picture |publisher=[[The Weinstein Company]]}}</ref> Emily responded by mastering the five string banjo, by reading books to teach herself the [[chord progressions]].<ref name="Malkin"/>

From 1984–1989, Jane Frost (Director of the [[Patsy Montana|Patsy Montana Museum]] and the [[Walnut Valley Festival]] in [[Winfield, Kansas]]) remembers watching the sisters mature, teaming up with schoolmates Troy and [[Sharon Gilchrist]]. The foursome were touring in a teenage [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]] group they named the Blue Night Express, in part because of the amount of traveling they had to do to reach far away festivals, frequently with a parent or friend of the family towing them back home long after dark at night. They thought it was worth the sacrifices to meet their musical heroes and experienced the friendly camaraderie and tricks of the trade on instruments from others. The sisters were said to have an "almost obsessive" interest in [[busking]] at small venues and attending bluegrass festivals.<ref name=Frost>{{cite web|last1=Frost|first1=Jane|title=Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS, Early 1980s|url=http://www.dixie-chicks.com/stories.shtml|website=The All-Inclusive Dixie Chicks Page|date=July 15, 1999|access-date=December 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002233114/http://www.dixie-chicks.com/stories.shtml|archive-date=October 2, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Faraway Hills">[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/farawayhills/sharon_gilchrist.html "Sharon Gilchrist"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303182257/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/farawayhills/sharon_gilchrist.html |date=March 3, 2016 }}, Faraway Hills (Retrieved February 12, 2008).</ref> After Martie graduated from secondary school at [[Greenhill School (Addison, Texas)|Greenhill School]] with Emily still completing her studies, both remained active in the bluegrass scene.