Published: August 14, 2026 · 5:15 PM EDT
The five-time Grammy-winning 2006 album returns October 2 through Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings with three unreleased demos, two rarities, refreshed artwork and a tour built around the complete Taking the Long Way album
The Chicks are celebrating 20 years of Taking the Long Way with an expanded anniversary edition that brings one of the defining albums of their career back into the physical-media and catalog market.
Taking the Long Way: 20th Anniversary Edition will be released on October 2, 2026 through Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, as an expanded 3LP vinyl edition and digitally.
The new edition adds five bonus tracks: three previously unreleased demos and two rarities. The physical edition also features an exclusive etching, refreshed cover artwork and updated packaging.
Among the newly issued archival recordings is “Flowers (Demo Version)”, alongside demo versions of “Not Ready to Make Nice” and “So Hard.”
The rarities “Thin Line” and “Live Wire” complete the bonus material and will become available through streaming services for the first time as part of the anniversary campaign.
The anniversary project represents more than a conventional vinyl repress.
Legacy Recordings is expanding the original 14-track album into a three-record configuration that combines the complete 2006 release with archival material from the same period.
For collectors, the additional disc is the major distinction.
Rather than simply changing the vinyl color or reproducing the original package, the 20th Anniversary Edition adds previously unreleased recordings and rarities while introducing new visual elements through the exclusive etching, refreshed artwork and packaging.
It also places Taking the Long Way inside the wider catalog strategy surrounding The Chicks, bringing a two-decade-old recording back into physical retail, digital platforms and live performance simultaneously.
That combination of archival audio, vinyl and touring illustrates how established albums can be repositioned for a new commercial cycle long after their original release.
Taking the Long Way was originally released on May 23, 2006 through Columbia Records.
The album arrived during one of the most consequential periods in the history of the group and became a major commercial success.
It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 526,000 copies in its first U.S. week.
The Chicks’ official store also lists the album as having sold more than 2.5 million copies in the United States and receiving 2X Platinum certification.
Two decades later, the anniversary campaign places that commercial history alongside the modern catalog economy, where major recordings can return through vinyl editions, streaming expansion, archival material and anniversary touring.
At the center of Taking the Long Way is “Not Ready to Make Nice,” one of the most important recordings in The Chicks’ catalog.
The song was written by Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, Emily Robison - now Emily Strayer - and Dan Wilson.
Its place on the album was closely connected to the intense public controversy that had surrounded The Chicks after Maines criticized President George W. Bush and the Iraq War during a London concert in 2003.
The Recording Academy’s historical account documents the subsequent boycotts, threats and deterioration of the group’s relationship with portions of country radio before the release of Taking the Long Way.
Rather than separating the anniversary release from that history, the new edition preserves one of the clearest musical documents of that period through the original recording while also adding an unreleased demo version of “Not Ready to Make Nice.”
That demo gives the archival edition additional historical value by presenting another stage in the development of a song that eventually became central to the album’s identity.
The commercial success of Taking the Long Way was followed by one of the most significant Grammy nights in The Chicks’ career.
At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007, the album and “Not Ready to Make Nice” collectively won all five categories in which The Chicks were nominated.
Taking the Long Way - Album of the Year
Taking the Long Way - Best Contemporary Country Album
Not Ready to Make Nice - Record of the Year
Not Ready to Make Nice - Song of the Year
Not Ready to Make Nice - Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The album was produced by Rick Rubin, while the Grammy credits list Richard Dodd, Jim Scott and Chris Testa among its engineering and mixing team, with Dodd also credited for mastering.
Winning Album of the Year alongside both Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Not Ready to Make Nice” placed the album far beyond the boundaries of a conventional country release.
It became both a major catalog title and a documented part of American popular-music history.
The new 3LP edition preserves the original album sequence across the first two records before using the third LP for the five archival additions.
The first four sides contain the complete original Taking the Long Way album.
Disc 3, Side A then introduces the anniversary material:
Not Ready to Make Nice (Demo Version)
Thin Line
So Hard (Demo Version)
Live Wire
Flowers (Demo Version)
According to Legacy Recordings, three of those tracks are previously unreleased demos, while “Thin Line” and “Live Wire” are rarities receiving their first streaming availability.
The physical release also includes an exclusive etching and revised visual presentation, giving the anniversary configuration characteristics that distinguish it from earlier vinyl editions of the album.
COMPLETE 20TH ANNIVERSARY TRACKLIST
DISC 1 - SIDE A
1. The Long Way Around
2. Easy Silence
3. Not Ready to Make Nice
4. Everybody Knows
DISC 1 - SIDE B
1. Bitter End
2. Lullaby
3. Lubbock or Leave It
DISC 2 - SIDE A
1. Silent House
2. Favorite Year
3. Voice Inside My Head
DISC 2 - SIDE B
1. I Like It
2. Baby Hold On
3. So Hard
4. I Hope
DISC 3 - SIDE A - BONUS TRACKS
1. Not Ready to Make Nice (Demo Version)
2. Thin Line
3. So Hard (Demo Version)
4. Live Wire
5. Flowers (Demo Version)
TAKING THE LONG WAY 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
The catalog campaign will also move from physical media to the stage.
The Chicks will begin the Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour on September 30, 2026 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit.
The tour has been designed around a complete performance of Taking the Long Way.
For the first time, Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer will perform the album from beginning to end before closing each concert with additional songs from across The Chicks’ catalog.
The original tour announcement included 16 performances, but additional dates have since expanded the itinerary.
New shows include Philadelphia at The Met on October 7, Boston at MGM Music Hall at Fenway on October 9 and a third Los Angeles performance at the Dolby Theatre on November 3.
The expansion gives the tour three nights at New York’s Beacon Theatre and three nights at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, alongside multiple-night engagements in Chicago, San Antonio, Seattle and San Francisco.
2026 TOUR DATES
September 30 - Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre
October 3 - Chicago, IL - The Auditorium
October 4 - Chicago, IL - The Auditorium
October 6 - Washington, DC - The Anthem
October 7 - Philadelphia, PA - The Met
October 9 - Boston, MA - MGM Music Hall at Fenway
October 10 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
October 12 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
October 13 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
October 15 - Nashville, TN - The Truth
October 17 - San Antonio, TX - Majestic Theatre
October 18 - San Antonio, TX - Majestic Theatre
October 20 - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall
October 25 - Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall
October 26 - Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall
October 29 - San Francisco, CA - The Masonic
October 30 - San Francisco, CA - The Masonic
November 1 - Hollywood, CA - Dolby Theatre
November 2 - Hollywood, CA - Dolby Theatre
November 3 - Hollywood, CA - Dolby Theatre
THE CHICKS
Natalie Maines
Martie Maguire
Emily Strayer
The trio have accumulated 13 Grammy Awards across their career and more than 30.5 million album sales, according to Live Nation’s current artist biography.
Their catalog includes major releases such as Wide Open Spaces, Fly, Home, Taking the Long Way and Gaslighter.
The longevity of those recordings also makes The Chicks particularly relevant to the current physical-media and catalog market, where anniversary campaigns increasingly combine vinyl products, unreleased material and live events.
The release provides a useful example of how major labels are extending the commercial life of established albums.
Legacy Recordings exists specifically within Sony Music Entertainment as a catalog-focused operation, and Taking the Long Way offers the type of title that can operate across several parts of the modern music business simultaneously.
The original album already has historical sales, chart recognition and Grammy visibility.
The 2026 campaign adds new reasons for existing listeners to return through previously unreleased audio, creates a new physical product for vinyl buyers and places two older rarities onto streaming services for the first time.
The tour then extends that anniversary cycle into the live business.
In that sense, the 20th Anniversary Edition is not simply nostalgia. It is a coordinated catalog campaign built around physical media, streaming, archival material and touring.
Taking the Long Way matters because its history extends far beyond its original 2006 release window.
It debuted at No. 1 in the United States, sold more than half a million copies during its opening week, generated one of The Chicks’ defining songs in “Not Ready to Make Nice” and eventually swept five major Grammy categories.
The record also captured The Chicks during a period when their relationship with the country establishment had changed dramatically, making the album inseparable from the larger cultural and industry history surrounding the group.
Twenty years later, Sony Music and Legacy Recordings are not treating it only as a historical artifact.
The album is returning as a new collector product, previously unavailable recordings are entering the catalog, two rarities are moving onto streaming services and the trio are taking the complete record back to American theaters.
That makes the anniversary edition a useful example of how an important album can continue generating cultural and commercial activity decades after its original cycle ended.
Across 20 years, Taking the Long Way has moved from a No. 1 contemporary release into one of the central catalog recordings in the history of The Chicks. With the October 2 arrival of the expanded 3LP 20th Anniversary Edition, Legacy Recordings is opening that archive further through unreleased demos of “Not Ready to Make Nice,” “So Hard” and “Flowers,” the streaming debut of “Thin Line” and “Live Wire,” refreshed physical packaging and a U.S. tour built around the first complete live performances of the album. For collectors, country music historians and listeners following the modern catalog business, the anniversary campaign documents how a record born from a defining moment in 2006 continues to operate as both music history and an active commercial catalog two decades later.
Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist
SOURCE: Legacy Recordings / Sony Music Entertainment / The Chicks / Recording Academy / Billboard / Live Nation
Photo Credit : Legacy Recordings / Sony Music Entertainment
Watch The Chicks’s official video for “The Long Way Around” below:
