New England country fans just got another concert to put on the calendar.
The Chicks have added Boston to their Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour, with the newly announced show scheduled for October 9. The trio also added dates in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
And this isn’t just another stop on a regular tour.
The shows celebrate the 20th anniversary of Taking the Long Way, the 2006 album that arrived during one of the most turbulent periods of The Chicks’ career.
The album included “Not Ready to Make Nice,” a song that became something much bigger than another country single. It addressed the backlash the group faced after Natalie Maines criticized President George W. Bush and the Iraq War during a 2003 concert—comments that led to boycotts and many country stations dropping their music.
Instead of quietly moving on, The Chicks eventually turned the experience into music.
And it worked.
Taking the Long Way won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, while “Not Ready to Make Nice” won both Record and Song of the Year.
Now the group is going back to that chapter of its history in a big way.
The Chicks are also releasing a 20th anniversary edition of the album on October 3 featuring five previously unreleased bonus tracks. Two of them, “Thin Line” and “Live Wire,” will be available for streaming for the first time.
For longtime fans, though, the Boston concert may be the real attraction.
Twenty years later, an album created during one of the most difficult stretches of The Chicks’ career has become one of their defining records.
Sometimes country music’s best stories take a couple of decades to fully appreciate.
New England country fans just got another concert to put on the calendar.

