"The Long Way Around" | ||||
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Single by Dixie Chicks | ||||
from the album Taking the Long Way | ||||
Released | January 8, 2007 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 4:33 | |||
Label | Columbia Nashville | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Rick Rubin | |||
Dixie Chicks singles chronology | ||||
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"The Long Way Around" (a.k.a. "Taking the Long Way Around") is a song written by Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, Emily Robison and Dan Wilson and recorded by the American all-female trio Dixie Chicks for their seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way (2006). The song was the fifth and final single released from the album.
The song is the opening track of Taking the Long Way and provides the album its title, which derives from the chorus.
About the writing process of the song, Robison said, "That's a journey song, about the different stages in our lives. A recap of where we've been, where we're going - and it was nice to remind ourselves of all that." Maines said, "We've always written songs that are about other people. It's so much harder to put yourself out there and be honest with your emotions and your beliefs, but the songs are so much better and mean so much more when you can let yourself be vulnerable." [1]
"The Long Way Around" received unanimous[ citation needed ] critical acclaim. It was ranked as the 20th best song of 2006 by Rolling Stone magazine, which called it "a heart-tugging guitar anthem for small-town girls with big dreams -- and the best ersatz Springsteen song in a year that was packed with them". [2]
Martha Elenor Maguire is an American musician who is a founding member of the country band the Chicks and the country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in national fiddle championships while still a teenager. Maguire is accomplished on several other instruments, including the mandolin, viola, double bass and guitar. She has written and co-written a number of the band's songs, some of which have become chart-topping hits. She also contributes her skills in vocal harmony and backing vocals, as well as orchestrating string arrangements for the band.
Emily Burns Strayer is an American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and a founding member of the country band the Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks. Strayer plays banjo, dobro, guitar, lap steel, bass, mandolin, accordion, fiddle, piano, and sitar. Initially in her career with the Chicks, she limited her singing to harmony with backing vocals, but within her role in the Court Yard Hounds, she took on the role of lead vocalist.
Natalie Louise Maines is an American musician. She is the lead vocalist for the country band the Chicks.
Home is the sixth studio album by American country music band Dixie Chicks, released on August 27, 2002, through Monument and Columbia Records. It is notable for its acoustic bluegrass sound, which stands in contrast with their previous two country pop albums.
Fly is the fifth studio album by American country music band the Dixie Chicks, released on August 31, 1999 through Monument Records. Compared to their previous album and breakthrough Wide Open Spaces (1998), the group had a stronger hand in writing, co-writing five of the fourteen tracks. The album was produced by Blake Chancey and Paul Worley, both of whom had already produced Wide Open Spaces.
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.
"Goodbye Earl" is a country murder ballad written by Dennis Linde. Initially recorded by the band Sons of the Desert for an unreleased album in the late 1990s, the song gained fame when it was recorded by Dixie Chicks on their fifth studio album, Fly. After charting from unsolicited airplay in late 1999, the song was released as that album's third single in 2000, peaking at #13 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. The CD single includes a 'B-Side' cover of "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette. In 2021, it was listed at No. 469 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".
The Accidents & Accusations World Tour was a concert tour by the Dixie Chicks. It was their first tour where tickets were sold after the scandal which ensued in 2003 when lead singer Natalie Maines publicly criticized President George W. Bush at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London during the Top of the World Tour, leading to intense criticism of the group. The tour was named after the lyrics in the song "Easy Silence" from the album Taking the Long Way, released in May 2006.
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing is a 2006 American documentary film about the Dixie Chicks controversy, produced and directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck.
"Not Ready to Make Nice" is a song co-written and performed by American country music trio Dixie Chicks. It was released on March 20, 2006, as the first single from the band's seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way. The Dixie Chicks wrote the song in response to the backlash they experienced in 2003 after criticizing President George W. Bush.
"I Hope" is a country–pop song written and performed by the American all-female trio Dixie Chicks for their seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way, in 2006.
"Travelin' Soldier" is a song written and originally recorded by American country music artist Bruce Robison in 1996 and again, in rewritten form, in 1999. It was later recorded by Ty England on his 1999 album, Highways & Dance Halls. The first rendition to be issued as a single was by the Chicks, then known as the Dixie Chicks, who recorded the song for their third major label album Home (2002). It was released as the third single from the album on December 9, 2002. The group performed the song before its release at the 2001 Country Music Association Awards.
The Chicks are an American country band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer. Maguire and Strayer, both née Erwin, founded the band in 1989, with bassist Laura Lynch and vocalist and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy. They performed bluegrass and country music, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits and small venues for six years without attracting a major label. In 1992, Lynch replaced Macy as the lead vocalist.
"Top of the World" is a contemporary folk-country song written by Patty Griffin and most known as recorded and performed in Grammy Award-winning fashion by the Dixie Chicks.
"Without You" is a song written by Eric Silver and Natalie Maines, and recorded by American country music group Dixie Chicks. It was released in August 2000 as the fifth single from their album Fly. In January 2001, it hit number one on the U.S. country singles chart. It also reached number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Wide Open Spaces" is a song written by Susan Gibson and recorded by the American country music group Dixie Chicks. It was released in August 1998 as the third single and title track from the band's album Wide Open Spaces. The song hit number one on the U.S. Country singles chart and spent four weeks there in November 1998. It also placed to number 41 on the U.S. Pop singles chart.
"You Were Mine" is a song recorded by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released in December 1998 as the fourth single from the album Wide Open Spaces, the song spent two weeks atop the U.S. Country singles chart in March 1999; that same month, it reached #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped Canada's country music chart for a week.
Court Yard Hounds were an American country music and folk duo, founded by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer. They, along with Natalie Maines, make up The Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks. The sisters decided to record a side project under a different name. Court Yard Hounds, featuring Strayer for the first time as lead vocalist, released a debut album for Columbia Records, the same label for which the Dixie Chicks has recorded, on May 4, 2010. The album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart, initially selling 61,000 copies. It has sold approximately 825,000 copies in the United States.
Mother is the first solo studio album by American singer Natalie Maines. It was released on May 7, 2013.
Back Roads and Abandoned Motels is the tenth studio album by the alt country band the Jayhawks, released on July 13, 2018.