Marissa R. Moss
View all posts by Marissa R. Moss October 2, 2026 Add us as a Google Preferred Source
Add us as a Google Preferred Source 
The Chicks, in 2006. The 20th anniversary edition of ‘Taking the Long Way’ shows a band who never abandoned country music, even if the industry abandoned them. Michael Buckner/AMA/Getty Images Superstars, renegades, innovators, heroes, villains, and moms: That’s how the Chicks describe themselves, though there are many ways that you might. Maybe you know the Chicks as the band F.K.A. as the Dixie Chicks — the trio from Dallas comprising Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer, and Martie McGuire, before they changed their name in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the 2020 Black Lives Matter uprising. Maybe you know them as the band that spoke out in London against the Iraq War in 2003 and saw themselves become one of the first victims of “cancel culture” (or, more accurately, undemocratic censorship). Maybe you know them as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift’s collaborators, or perhaps you just know them as one of the most successful all-women bands of all time, who crafted some of the most potent, defiant, and catchy country music ever made.
However you know the Chicks, their impact and legacy is undeniable.
But when the Chicks released their 2006 album Taking the Long Way, they changed their relationship with their primary association: country music. After the now infamous incident where Maines declared that she was “ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas,” Nashville dropped them in what seemed like (and really was) an instant. While the Music Row machine distanced itself, a new fanbase appeared, drawn first to what the trio stood for, and then to their songs. The Chicks became something almost post-genre, regardless of what their music sounded like. They went on to represent so many facets of American life — sexism, politics, authenticity, censorship — and fighting for what you believe in, no matter the cost.
They still do. Twenty years after the release of 2006’s Grammy-winning Taking the Long Way, which was just reissued as a new, expanded edition, the Chicks’ haven’t wavered. They have continued to rally for justice through their songs (Gaslighter’s “March March”) and even their humorous stage banter, with Maines cracking jokes about Mitch McConnell on tour. And while Taking the Long Way (20th Anniversary Edition) will always be deeply connected to the story that made it, and the song, “Not Ready to Make Nice,” that still serves as one of the fiercest musical go-to-hells of all time, it also is a reminder that the Chicks are a country band making their version of country music. They never deserted the genre they loved, even if it deserted them.
