"Not Ready to Make Nice" is a song co-written and performed by American country music trio Dixie Chicks.

[2] Controversy erupted over The Chicks in 2003 following a critical comment vocalist Natalie Maines made about American President George W. Bush while performing in a concert in London, United Kingdom.

In relation to the forthcoming invasion of Iraq, Maines said, "...we don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.

The band went on to the October 25 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote the documentary film Shut Up and Sing and the music video of the song was quickly shown.

The band members released their comments about writing the songs of Taking the Long Way through the website Frontpage Publicity.

[6] The Fox late-night sketch show MADtv performed a parody of the "Not Ready to Make Nice" music video.

"Not Ready to Make Nice" received universal acclaim from contemporary music critics of publications like Allmusic, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone and USA Today.

"[8] Rolling Stone music reviewer Barry Walters commented the following about the song, "Rather than try to forget about singer Natalie Maines' anti-Bush remarks of 2003 -- which landed them in hot water with a lot of station program directors -- the threesome declares it's still 'Not Ready to Make Nice'.

"[10] The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll voted "Not Ready to Make Nice" as the eighth best single of 2006.

(In a nod to the controversial origins of the song, Grammy producers had longtime singer-activist Joan Baez introduce the performance.)

That same week, the song would also receive a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for digital downloads of over 500,000.