Taking the Long Way (2006)

Taking the Long Way is the seventh studio album by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released on May 23, 2006, through Columbia Nashville, it was also the group's last album released under the “Dixie Chicks” name. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold over 2.5 million copies in the U.S., being certified 2× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 11, 2007. It won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year in February 2007.

History

The first song released from the album was the charity single "I Hope" in September 2005. The song received its debut performance on the Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast telethon on September 9, 2005, and was later made available as a digital download single with proceeds to benefit the Hurricane Katrina relief.

The first physical single from the album, "Not Ready to Make Nice", was released in March 2006. On May 18, 2006, the whole album was leaked onto various file sharing media.

Taking the Long Way was the first studio album the band released since the controversy that erupted over them in 2003 following Natalie Maines' remarks critical of then-United States President George W. Bush. The controversy and the Chicks' reaction to it is the major theme of the first tracks of the album.

The first track is "The Long Way Around" which is a manifesto to non-conformity, presented with allusions to The Byrds' "Wasn't Born to Follow" as well as the Chicks' own "Long Time Gone" and "Top of the World." The song also included a direct reference to the backlash and subsequent fall from the charts they experienced during the 2003 Top of the World Tour. The second track is "Easy Silence", a testimonial to the protagonist's husband, who affords her an island of quiet companionship and love in the midst of turmoil. The third track, and first single, "Not Ready to Make Nice", offers an angry statement of purpose and resolve, and makes direct reference to isolated incidents the Chicks encountered following Maines' comments. The fourth track "Everybody Knows" is a return to the classic Chicks sound, but enmeshed in an aura of vulnerabilities and ambivalences.

"Lullaby" was featured prominently in the Medium Episode "Twice Upon a Time," Season 2 Episode 22, which first aired on May 22, 2006, the night before the album release date.

"Favorite Year" was written with the collaboration of Sheryl Crow, while track ten "Voice Inside My Head" was written with the collaboration of Linda Perry.

Closing track "I Hope", is a song written with Keb' Mo' for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and it was first performed on the Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast telethon in 2005. The song features a guitar solo from John Mayer.

Selections from the album were prominently featured in the Chicks' subsequent Accidents & Accusations Tour, which included an unprecedented number of Canadian dates. A lot of the album tracks are featured in the Dixie Chicks documentary, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, alongside three non-album cuts; "The Neighbor", "Baby Love" and "Whatever It Takes".

"The Neighbor" was later released as a stand-alone single, in support of the documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing.

Reception

Commercial performance

On May 31, 2006, the album took three number one spots on the charts of Billboard magazine. It was number one on the Hot Country Albums, Top Digital Albums, and on the Billboard 200 chart, going Gold in its first week with 526,000 units sold.

The second week, the album stayed in the top spot while taking a 48% decline, selling 271,000 units and bringing the album sales total to 797,000 units.

In its third and fourth weeks, the album dropped to number two on the chart. During the next three weeks, the album remained as one of the top five albums in the country. During its eighth week, due to several high-profile new releases, the album was pushed out of the top ten to number eleven. However, on week nine, the album bounced back into the top ten. The album has sold 2.5 million copies in the U.S. as of May 17, 2013.

In Canada, the album was a huge success, staying atop the album charts for 4 weeks and 18 weeks on the country album charts. It has sold 292,639 copies there, making it 2× platinum. At the year end charts, Taking The Long Way was the second best selling album of the year in Canada.

The album has also done well in Australia becoming their highest-charting album peaking at #2 and has since gone double platinum (140,000); it has also spent thirty non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the Australian Country Chart and is yet to peak lower than the top 10 more than 40 weeks after its release. Taking the Long Way came in at #20 on the Australian End Of Year Album Charts for 2006. It also finished at #1 on the Australian End Of Year Country Charts for 2006; the lead single "Not Ready To Make Nice", finished at #96 on the End Of Year Single Charts.