WASHINGTON – The Chicks still aren’t ready to make nice – and bless them for their integrity.
It’s both laughable and sad to realize that 23 years ago the trio of Natalie Maines
, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire endured the ostracization of country music fans and radio and watched their career torched – literally in the form of bonfires melting their CDs ‒ for making a political statement that now would barely warrant a headline.“We’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas,” Maines famously remarked during a 2003 Chicks concert in London. Her reference targeted then-President George W. Bush, a Texan like the trio, and the group’s opposition to the start of the Iraq War.
Onstage at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. Oct. 6,
Maines smirked with a “who woulda thought” sigh as she referenced the current president – whom she blasted on social media earlier this year – as “deranged” and “mentally ill.” The descriptors elicited robust cheers and claps from the sold-out crowd, fans who have always had The Chicks’ backs and continue to celebrate their soulful, harmony-rich music and unyielding principles.
The Chicks say 'the incident' was really a 'blessing'
The fallout from the Bush comment nearly quashed their career. But in 2006, with the guidance of renowned rock producer Rick Rubin, The Chicks delivered “Taking the Long Way,” a No. 1 artistic and commercial triumph that collected five Grammy Awards, including album of the year and record and song of the year for their visceral anthem of defiance, “Not Ready to Make Nice.”
The album ‒ their last before removing Dixie from their name for their 2020 return with “Gaslighter” ‒ was a watershed moment not only in their career, but in music.
Now, “the incident – aka, the blessing,” as Maines called it during the D.C. show, is the centerpiece of the sold-out, 20-date Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour that kicked off Sept. 30 and wraps Nov. 3 with a three-night stand in Hollywood, California.
The first half of the two-act show that includes a brief intermission spotlights “Taking the Long Way,” the first time Maines, Strayer and Maguire are playing the 14-track album in full.
Sitting center stage under an elegant cylindric curtain that doubled as a video surface, the threesome displayed their usual exceptional musicianship as they rolled through the landmark album that was pure musical vindication.
The Chicks share stories, video about their landmark album
Flanked by a six-piece band, The Chicks revisited the strummy title track, with Maguire’s fiddle and Strayer’s banjo prominent, the hard-charging “Lubbock or Leave It” and the gentle, angelically harmonized “Lullaby” with equal adroitness.
Maines’ vocals, defined by its clarion distinction, rang boldly through the tambourine ditty “I Like It” and the torch ballad “Baby Hold On” (with its “Tim and Faith bridge,” Maines quipped about the stylistic leanings of country powerhouse couple McGraw/Hill).
As with most albums, not every song is deeply memorable, but every song is undoubtedly someone’s favorite. The stories the women shared about the creation of "Taking the Long Way," amplified by video clips recorded during the process, added enlightenment and humor (Maines joked before the Celtic-tinged “Bitter End” that the best part about their professional exile was, “we no longer had to do grip and grins with radio executives!”).
But of course it was “Not Ready to Make Nice” that rattled the ceiling as its breathy opening built to the audacious chorus. Maines pounded her fists in her lap as she sang the potent bridge and white lights flooded the stage as she reached the lyric, “they'd write me a letter/ sayin' that I better/shut up and singor my life will be over.”
Chills, suffice to say, commenced.
The Chicks' bring hits, singalongs and spirit to second set
The second set in the 2 ½-hour show focused on hits, of which The Chicks have dozens, including several that cross-pollinated between the country and pop charts.
A glossier backdrop and the trio upright and playing spiritedly combined for an electrifying “Goodbye Earl,” with Maines’ saucy twang in overdrive. A communal singalong greeted “Wide Open Spaces” while “White Trash Wedding,” zippy hoedown that it is, allowed Maguire and Strayer spotlight moments on their respective instruments.
The Chicks’ cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”– a hit on the pop, country and adult contemporary charts in 2002 ‒ glided with rustic melancholy, while their other nod to a comrade in progressive artistry, Beyoncé, flourished with a foot-stomping, N’Awlins swing on their version of “Daddy Lessons.”
With this tour – and The Chicks’ complementary “Taking the Long Way (20th Anniversary Edition)” album out now – come reminders that sometimes the last thing an artist should do it shut up and sing.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Chicks revisit their boldest chapter 23 years after fallout from political statement
