The Chicks Expand ‘Taking the Long Way’ for 20th Anniversary With Unreleased Tracks and New Tour Dates

The Chicks Taking the Long Way 20th anniversary celebration is getting significantly larger. On August 10, the trio announced an expanded edition of its landmark 2006 album featuring five bonus tracks, while also adding Philadelphia, Boston and another Los Angeles show to a U.S. tour built around the record.

Taking the Long Way: 20th Anniversary Edition is scheduled for October 3 and will be released digitally and as a three-LP set. The expanded track list gives listeners new material from an album that became one of the defining releases of The Chicks’ career, while the accompanying tour will feature the original record performed in its entirety.

The Chicks Taking the Long Way 20th anniversary edition adds five tracks

The new edition expands the original 14-song album with five bonus recordings. Among them are “Thin Line” and “Live Wire,” which the group says will become available on streaming services for the first time as part of the anniversary release.

The Chicks announced the expansion Monday, with details subsequently confirmed in a press release reported by People. The group’s official website continues to host the original Taking the Long Way album page and its track listing.

The anniversary treatment gives the group an opportunity to revisit material created during an unusually consequential period in its history. Released in May 2006, Taking the Long Way arrived three years after Natalie Maines’ criticism of the Iraq War and then-President George W. Bush triggered a major backlash against the group within parts of the country music industry.

Rather than separating the record from that experience, the album addressed some of its consequences directly. “Not Ready to Make Nice” became its most recognizable statement and later shared in the record’s remarkable awards-season success.

A Grammy sweep became part of the album’s legacy

Taking the Long Way went on to win five Grammy Awards at the 2007 ceremony, including Album of the Year. “Not Ready to Make Nice” earned Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Legacy Recordings has previously documented the album’s commercial and awards history, including its No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 and Grammy success. The company also noted that the release made the then-Dixie Chicks the first female group in chart history to have three albums debut at No. 1.

The anniversary arrives with the trio now performing as The Chicks, the name Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer adopted in 2020. Their most recent studio album, Gaslighter, was released that same year.

Three shows join the Taking the Long Way anniversary tour

The album announcement also expands a tour that was first unveiled in May. The Chicks have added an October 7 performance in Philadelphia, an October 9 show in Boston and a November 3 date in Los Angeles.

The additional Los Angeles performance extends what had originally been a two-night conclusion at the Dolby Theatre on November 1 and 2. The initial itinerary, announced by Live Nation, begins September 30 at Detroit’s Fox Theatre and includes stops in Chicago, Washington, New York, Nashville, San Antonio, Austin, Seattle and San Francisco.

Current listings can also be checked through The Chicks’ Live Nation event page.

The format makes the tour more than a conventional career-spanning concert run. Live Nation’s original announcement states that The Chicks will perform Taking the Long Way in full for the first time during the anniversary shows, followed by additional songs from across their catalog.

Why the anniversary is more than a standard reissue

Anniversary editions are now a familiar part of the music industry’s catalog strategy, but Taking the Long Way occupies an unusual place in The Chicks’ history. Its songs arrived after a period in which the group’s relationship with country radio, political culture and parts of its established audience had fundamentally changed.

Twenty years later, the combination of unreleased material and complete-album performances gives the anniversary project a stronger archival component than simply pressing the original track list on new vinyl.

The October 3 release will arrive just days after the anniversary tour begins in Detroit, allowing the reissue and live performances to unfold together. With three additional concerts now on the calendar, The Chicks are turning the album’s 20th year into a broader reassessment of the record that defined one of the most closely watched periods of their career.

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Julie Anne Krakenes

Julie Anne Krakenes is a passionate traveler and a connoisseur of world cuisines. She brings a global perspective to her writing and shares her adventures and culinary discoveries with readers. Julie Anne’s love for exploration and diverse cultures shines through in her engaging and informative articles.