The Chicks’ Post-Controversy Album, Reconsidered

Pitchfork’s Sunday retrospective examines The Chicks’ 2006 album Taking the Long Way. The record arrived after Natalie Maines’s 2003 London remark about President George W. Bush, which triggered a country-radio boycott and widespread backlash against the trio. The review frames the album as a defining, uncompromising work made during a difficult period for the band and the nation.

A Pitchfork Sunday feature by Shaad D’Souza, dated October 11, 2026, revisits The Chicks’ 2006 folk/country album Taking the Long Way. It followed Natalie Maines’s 2003 London comment about President George W. Bush, after which radio stopped playing the trio, some fans destroyed their CDs, and peers shunned them.

Dan Wilson suggested a song called “Undivided,” but Maines refused to forgive those who had hurt the band. The record was the first on which all three members co-wrote every track. Its 2026 anniversary brought a small tour and an expanded edition with demo recordings and leftover tracks.