The Chicks returned to late-night television with a performance built around one of their most defining songs. Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Strayer appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to sing “Not Ready to Make Nice,” marking the 20th anniversary of Taking the Long Way.
The timing gave the performance extra weight. Taking the Long Way, released in 2006 when the trio was still known as the Dixie Chicks, was their seventh studio album and won five Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. “Not Ready to Make Nice” was later named one of the best 100 songs of 2006 by Rolling Stone, which called it “a heart-tugging guitar anthem for small-town girls with big dreams—and the best ersatz Springsteen song in a year that was packed with them.”
Maguire played fiddle and shared vocals as the group performed in red, a simple setup that put the song itself at the center of the moment. That mattered because “Not Ready to Make Nice” was written after the group was blacklisted for comments about President George W. Bush and the Iraq War, turning the track into both a comeback statement and a public reckoning. More than 20 years later, the song still carries the same charge, and this appearance tied that history directly to the band’s next move.
The Chicks will take the anniversary on the road this fall with a 16-show tour in intimate theaters, starting in Detroit and ending with two nights in Hollywood, California. The run also includes multiple dates in Chicago, New York and San Antonio, giving fans a chance to hear the album’s signature song in a room size that fits its original bite.
