The Chicks announce intimate 'Taking the Long Way' 20th Anniversary
Tour. 'This is our lives'
[May 28, 2026]
By MARIA SHERMAN
NEW YORK (AP) — Call it a comeback, a crossover moment, or both. Twenty
years ago, The Chicks released their blockbuster 2006 album “Taking the
Long Way” — their first full-length after the country music industry
turned their backs on them — and one of the biggest of their career.
This fall, the Texas trio of Emily Strayer, Martie Maguire and Natalie
Maines will take it on the road, hitting intimate theaters across the
U.S.
“This album in particular is what I think fans would say is the most
recognized time in our career,” says Maines.
And so, they expect the shows — which will feature them performing
“Taking the Long Way” in full as well as additional songs — will also
have them reminiscing about the album and the very unusual time that led
up to it, on stage.
The moment that changed everything was back in 2003, when then-President
George W. Bush was preparing to invade Iraq. The Chicks were playing a
show in London when Maines announced that they were ashamed that the
president was from Texas. The backlash was swift, and the stuff of
industry lore. They were booed on awards shows, radio stations pulled
their music and fans destroyed their CDs. There was an apology, and then
in 2006, a rescinding of the apology — with the best revenge served in
the form of a multiplatinum selling single, “Not Ready to Make Nice.”
“It was definitely inspiring for songwriting,” said Maines of that
period. “It felt like life was happening to us, like we weren't steering
the ship.”
“Those were hard times for us,” adds Maguire. “It's all the stages of
grief … I think we were kind of in that misunderstood, angry, but also
really upset and needing an outlet (stage.)”
And so, they wrote the triumphant “Taking the Long Way,” produced by
Rick Rubin, after “licking our wounds,” as Strayer puts it.
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Emily Robison, left, Natalie Maines, and Martie Maguire of The
Chicks perform at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin,
Texas, on Oct. 14, 2022. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)
 “Not Ready to Make Nice” came out of
that. “It was like, ‘This is solely selfish. This is our lives,'”
Maines says of the song. And they were shocked when it connected —
but now, they recognize that “people have their own ‘Not Ready to
Make Nice’ story to tell.”
The album went on to earn them five Grammy Awards, including album,
song and record of the year, and marked a transformative moment for
the band. And its themes still resonate.
“Re-listening and rehearing those songs, I was surprised how
relevant they still seemed and how universal they still seemed even
though they were such personal stories,” says Strayer.
Later this year, fans will have the opportunity to relive the
“Taking the Long Way” era for a 16-night run that starts at the Fox
Theatre in Detroit on Sept. 30 and ends in Los Angeles at the Dolby
Theatre on Nov. 1 and 2. They'll also do two nights in Chicago, New
York, San Antonio, Seattle and San Francisco. They'll hit
Washington, Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas, for one night
only.
Tickets will go on sale June 4 at 10 a.m. local time on
LiveNation.com.
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