AUSTIN (March 15, 2013)--Natalie Maines says she doesn't know whether the Dixie Chicks will ever write new music, but a decade after her putdown of then-President George W. Bush, which altered the fate and fortunes of the Grammy-winning band that Maines now calls "tainted," she told The Associated Press she likes being a housewife and is still somewhat surprised to play to empty seats.

Maines, 38, isn't packing venues this week in Austin at the South by Southwest music festival while performing songs from her album "Mother," which marks her solo debut.

"I think that I though time would heal and I would come around," Maines said of her long absence.

"I'm still waiting,” she said.