The Chicks Talk Charles Barkley, Working With Jack Antonoff on ‘Kimmel’

The Chicks made their most recent late-night appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night, following Kimmel’s hosting stint at the 72nd Emmy Awards. He kicked off by asking the trio about one of their more unlikely fans: former NBA player and analyst Charles Barkley.

“He doesn’t go to shows, usually — he just stays in the casino the whole time,” Kimmel quipped. “This is big right off the bat.”

Natalie Maines recalled seeing Barkley in the audience when the Chicks opened for the Eagles on a stadium tour. “I’m watching this man in the front row, knowing every word, so into it,” she said, “and we got offstage, and I was like, ‘Emily, did you see who was right in front of you? Charles Barkley!’”

The Chicks also spoke fondly about working with producer Jack Antonoff on their latest album, Gaslighter, their first in over a decade. “He’s like a little brother — he just has this energy that you realize you need after 14 years,” Emily Strayer said. “We needed some of that energy. He also plays everything under the sun, and to have a musician like that in the studio, and to be able to try new things — we’re coming from a place of, ‘We don’t know what we wanna do right now, it’s been so long.’ We want to be us, but we also want to explore.”