Emily Zemler
View all posts by Emily Zemler June 10, 2026
The Chicks perform on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' YouTube/Jimmy Kimmel Live The Chicks appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to perform their hit song “Not Ready to Make Nice.” The performance came in honor of the 20th anniversary of the group’s Grammy Award-winning album, Taking the Long Way.
Dressed in all red, the trio—Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, and Emily Strayer—showcased the anthemic track alongside a band and strings section. Maguire brought in her signature fiddle playing as the musician shared vocals on the powerful song, released in response to the group being blacklisted for their comments regarding President George W. Bush and the Iraq War.
The Chicks, then known as the Dixie Chicks, released Taking the Long Way, their seventh studio album, in 2006. The album won five Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. Rolling Stone named “Not Ready to Make Nice” one of the best 100 songs of 2006, writing, “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.”
