I wasn’t sure what to think upon hearing that sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks had hatched a side project that didn’t include Natalie Maines. Of course, a side project with Maines would sort of be besides the point, right?

Anyway, the Dixie Chicks began a hiatus in 2008, but Maguire and Robison soon became restless, and last year the siblings recorded an album together. Calling themselves the Court Yard Hounds, a few of the newly minted country duo’s tracks are up for preview (the album arrives May 4), and I’m really falling for the casual, sunny vibe they’ve brought to the project. Robison, who wrote all but one of the songs on their eponymous debut, also sings lead, and it’s mighty uncanny just how much she sounds like my b-day mate Sheryl Crow (all well and good, really, since Crow’s taken a detour into acting, appearing on ABC’s Cougar Town in a three-episode arc that began last night.)

Earlier this week on Amazon MP3, Court Yard Hounds posted a free download of another track from the album, “It Didn’t Make A Sound,” along with an accompanying video. Web gremlins are making it difficult to feature either here, so grab ’em gratis and discover for yourself how a banjo, a little boogie-woogie piano, sisterly harmonies, and some repeatiti “hey, yeah, yeahs” make quite the winning sound. Go ahead and soak up the sun.

And no worries about the status of the Dixie Chicks. Not long after the the Court Yard Hounds project was revealed, it was announced that Maines, Maguire, and Robison are prepping a co-headling tour with The Eagles this summer.

Free download of Court Yard Hounds – “It Didn’t Make A Sound” (song/video) via Amazon MP3.