Forget about the chicken and the egg. The big question right now is not who came first. It's who left who first: Dixie Chicks or country radio?

In all fairness, we'd pick the Chicks. To us, they've always sounded less like a country band and more like a pop group fooling around with banjos and mandolins.

Not that anybody in country music minded -- until the Chicks had the huevos to express their shame at sharing a home state with Dubya a few years back. Then radio stations pulled their songs. Redneck buttwads like Toby Keith branded them traitors. Country music basically shunned them. And anyone who's been divorced can guess how keen the Chicks are to kiss up now. "They say time heals everything -- but I'm still waiting," sings Natalie Maines on Not Ready to Make Nice, the salt-rubbing number the trio chose as the first single from their fourth studio set Taking the Long Way.

But it's not just the reopened wounds that serve to distance the Chicks from their country nest; from the urban setting and fashions of the cover pic to the darker and more eclectic nature of these 14 songs -- not to mention the presence of ubiquitous superstar rock producer Rick Rubin -- Long Way is the Chicks' least country-pop outing.

It's also their most varied and personal work, as the band embraces a host of styles and sounds that extend far beyond their musical comfort zone and complement tales of struggling against adversity and sticking to your guns. Much of that variety comes from a parade of cowriters that includes Sheryl Crow, Neil Finn, Linda Perry, Jayhawk Gary Louris and Semisonic's Dan Wilson, not to mention a cast of guest stars from Bonnie Raitt and Keb' Mo' to John Mayer, Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and assorted Heartbreakers.

This support group helps the trio craft introspective, organically flowing cuts clearly more concerned with emotional honesty than snagging a spot in drive-time rotation.

Not that some of these tracks aren't gems: Lubbock or Leave It is a twangy little roots-rocker; I Like It flirts with Memphis soul and R&B; Voice Inside My Head takes a trip into paisley jangle-pop; I Hope offers slow-burning gospel blues.

The Chicks may not be ready to make nice -- but they were clearly ready to make the most revealing and confident album of their careers.

If that's the result of this little Hatfield-McCoy thing they've got going on with Nashville, we can only hope they never kiss and make up.

Track Listing:

1. The Long Way Around
2. Easy Silence
3. Not Ready To Make Nice
4. Everybody Knows
5. Bitter End
6. Lullaby
7. Lubbock Or Leave It
8. Silent House
9. Favorite Year
10. Voice Inside My Head
11. I Like It
12. Baby Hold On
13. So Hard
14. I Hope