By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer
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.
“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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The Chicks’ ‘Taking the Long Way’ 20th Anniversary Tour Dates
Sept. 30: Detroit — Fox Theatre
Oct. 3: Chicago — The Auditorium
Oct. 4: Chicago — The Auditorium
Oct. 6: Washington — The Anthem
Oct. 12: New York — Beacon Theatre
Oct. 13: New York — Beacon Theatre
Oct. 15: Nashville, Tennessee — The Truth
Oct. 17: San Antonio — Majestic Theatre
Oct. 18: San Antonio — Majestic Theatre
Oct. 20: Austin, Texas — Bass Concert Hall
Oct. 25: Seattle — Benaroya Hall
Oct. 26: Seattle — Benaroya Hall
Oct. 29: San Francisco — The Masonic
Oct. 30: San Francisco — The Masonic
Nov. 1: Los Angeles — Dolby Theatre
Nov. 2: Los Angeles — Dolby Theatre