The Chicks Celebrate 20 Years of a Big Comeback at The Truth

Approved press photo of The Chicks performing at Nashville venue The Truth on Oct. 15, 2026 — The Chicks at The Truth, 10/15/2026
Photo: Nicole Mago, courtesy of The Chicks

When The Chicks released their album Taking the Long Way in 2006, the Texas trio was only three years removed from what’s now known to country fans as “the incident.” In March 2003, just days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the band’s Natalie Maines made a statement onstage in London during their Top of the World Tour: “Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We don’t want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”

Music fans are well-versed in what happened next. The Chicks, the best-selling female band of all time in the U.S., were suddenly persona non grata on country radio. Artists who had once buddied up to the country stars were now admonishing them in the press for daring to speak their minds. Protesters in Bossier City, La., famously smashed the group’s CDs with a 33,000-pound tractor. It was just one of multiple events denouncing the group — many of which were organized by radio stations — held around the country.

But controversy has a way of weeding out the fairweather fans. And The Chicks’ most ardent supporters kept showing up — including at the trio’s sold-out show at The Truth on Oct. 15. The Nashville stop was part of the band’s ongoing Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour, celebrating two decades of the Grammy-winning, Rick Rubin-produced album that served as their defiant comeback.

During their nearly three-hour set, The Chicks (that’s Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer) played Taking the Long Way in full, kicking off the night with album opener “The Long Way Around.” The song is a mission statement for the record and an ode to those who refuse to bend to the status quo.

“Twenty years ago Rick Rubin reached out to us and asked if he could produce an album,” Maines told the audience. “[Rubin] asked us to co-write everything. He thought we had some things to say. He was right.”

Throughout the show, the band shared clips from the 2006 documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, which chronicled the backlash they faced in the wake of the controversy. The video included Maines’ famous remarks, followed by a montage of just some of the vitriol they received in the wake of the controversy — including conservative pundit Pat Buchanan calling them “bimbos,” making the group’s fiery performance of “Not Ready to Make Nice” feel even more cathartic.

“Well, a lot has gone on in 20 years,” said Maines. “Who knew that now we'd be ashamed that the president of the United States is from the United States?”

Maguire reflected on the support The Chicks received at the time from like-minded artists, such as Bruce Springsteen, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. But the list of vocal supporters in the country music community was short, as evidenced in “Bitter End.”

“The last verse of this song kind of has to do with Nashville,” said Maines, introducing the song. “The last verse is about all the friends on country radio and [in] Nashville we thought we had that dropped us like a hot potato.”

“You had a good time drinking all of our wine after the show,” the trio sang in harmony. “We all rode the wave of that crazy parade / Oh, where’d you go? / What happened to the ones we knew? / As long as I’m the shiniest star / Oh, there you are.”

The second half of the record features some of the album’s most quietly devastating moments. The trio’s performance of the roots rocker “Favorite Year,” which featured a surprise appearance from co-writer Sheryl Crow, was another highlight of the night. As they played through Side 2, the group shared stories and memories of what they were experiencing while dealing with an intense public backlash, including strained relationships (“Baby Hold On”) and fertility struggles (“So Hard”). Before they came to the album closer “I Hope,” Maines reflected on a recent visit to the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

“It was a great reminder of what it was like to not have a nut job running this country — a deranged nut job,” she said. “In these times, it’s hard to find hope, and I will say that going to the [Obama] Center gave me hope.”

After a short intermission, The Chicks returned to tear through a selection of fan favorites. There was a transcendent performance of “Gaslighter” and a sizzling cover of Beyoncé’s “Daddy Lessons.” But the rest of these songs fell on the timeline before “the incident” — among them the murder ballad “Goodbye Earl,” which itself garnered controversy (and resistance from radio programmers) and the cheeky “White Trash Wedding” from the group’s 2002 album Home.

The 40-minute run of hits was an important reminder that even before country radio turned its back on them, The Chicks never had much interest in conforming to the Music Row mold. It’s fitting that the group closed the show with the breakneck scorcher “Sin Wagon,” a tribute to sexual freedom (or as the trio puts it, “mattress dancin’”) from their 1999 album Fly. The Chicks were pushing the envelope long before ruffling Dubya’s feathers, and it’s a safe bet that they’ll be doing the same in 20 more years.