Have you heard The Dixie Chicks' latest song, Not Ready To Make Nice?

It's certainly a powerful piece of music. Watching the superb video for the song it's clear to see that Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire are still seething with anger about they way they were treated following Maines' comments about George Bush.

At a london gig in 2003 Maines said "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." This did not go down with the Country Music fraternity, by and large rather Republican and right-wing by nature.

What ensued following these comments was nothing short of a pathetic scandal. The Dixie Chicks received abuse and death threats, so much for the land of democracy and freedom. Speak your mind and folks will want you dead. Even more bizarre and rather sickening, the American Red Cross turned down a $1 million donation from the band.

Recently band members spoke on the issue of their comments and the aftermath. Emily Robison said, "A lot of pandering started going on, and you'd see soldiers and the American flag in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra-patriotism."

Natalie Maines continued, "The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism. Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country. I don't see why people care about patriotism."

Well the band is back with perhaps their best album to date. it's quite a different sound for them - mixing a West Coast 60s rock sound with their more traditional country stylings. Taking The Long Way is a brilliant album and the first single, Not Ready To Make Nice tackles the controversy over Maines' anti-Bush comments head on.

"It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge that they’d write me a letter sayin’ that I better shut up and sing or my life will be over "

In a press release, Emily Robison said, "The stakes were definitely higher on that song. We knew it was special because it was so autobiographical, and we had to get it right. And once we had that song done, it freed us up to do the rest of the album without that burden."

Reacting to many country stations refusing to play the new songs Maguire said, "I'd rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."

Natalie Maines has also now retracted her earlier apology to George W Bush, "I apologized for disrespecting the office of the President, but I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."

The new album Taking The Long Way, has just been released.