The Chicks — formerly known as The Dixie Chicks — will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night. That performance, and the group’s presence, will provide the latest chapter in The Chicks’ long and complicated political history.

The Chicks were once one of the biggest names in country music, as the band’s breakthrough albums — 1998’s Wide Open Spaces and 1999’s Fly — each achieved the Recording Industry Association of America’s coveted diamond status, signifying sales of more than 10 million copies each.

Then, in 2003, during the run-up to the U.S. war with Iraq, singer Natalie Maines told a crowd in London that the band opposed both the war and then-President George W. Bush.

“We do not want this war, this violence,” Maines said at a Chicks concert, adding, “and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”

The moment sparked backlash against The Chicks in the U.S., spearheaded by many of the country radio stations whose playlists the group had once dominated. Though Maines issued an apology — which she rescinded a few years later — the band remained largely alienated from the country-music industry, whose collective sentiment toward the war tended toward songs that expressed belligerence (Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue [The Angry American]”), called for action (Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?”) or reflected mournfully on the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks (Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You [When the World Stopped Turning]”).

The Chicks’ 2006 album Taking the Long Way addressed the controversy, most pointedly in the song “Not Ready to Make Nice.” Though the album was a commercial and critical success — it won album of the year at the 2007 Grammy Awards, while “Not Ready to Make Nice” was named both song and record of the year — it would be the group’s last album together until 2020.

That year, The Chicks dropped the word “Dixie” from their name, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests that followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. The group released a comeback album titled Gaslighter and, though plans for a large-scale tour were dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Four years later, The Chicks will again perform the National Anthem — this time before a packed crowd at Chicago’s United Center. And, once again, their performance will carry significant cultural weight: In recent weeks, “Not Ready to Make Nice” has been co-opted by conservative TikTok influencers, who’ve used the song to signal their opposition to Kamala Harris’ candidacy.

It’s becoming a tradition: The Chicks will sing “The Star Spangled Banner” on the final night of the Democratic National Convention Thursday evening, just as they did at the DNC four years ago.

This rendition is likely to be much more emotionally charged, though, as the trio will be performing it live, unlike the solemn version that was pre-recorded in 2020, for the pandemic edition of the convention.

The news was first reported by CNN.

At the time of the 2020 DNC appearance, Variety described their version as “turning the National Anthem into the harmony Olympics.”

But the group, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, has a history with the National Anthem that stretches much further back than just four years ago — most famously with a rendition at Super Bowl XXXVII that has been oft-cited as among the greatest televised versions of Frances Scott Key’s anthem ever.

As widely applauded as that 2003 rendition was, their universal acclaim was to be short-lived, as it was just a few months after that that controversy erupted over a Natalie Maines remark about then-president George W. Bush and the Iraq war, deeply dividing their audience and prompting conservative boycotts.

The 2020 DNC appearance, then, marked a reclamation of sorts, even if it was in a convention environment that was not ready to make nice for Donald Trump and other Republicans.

As Variety wrote in 2020: “At a Democratic convention, the Chicks represent a lot more than blood or near-blood harmony. They’re the original ‘nasty women’ of the early 21st century, when it comes to becoming pariahs for expressing thoughts about a Republican president. … Ultimately the group arose from the flames with a Grammy sweep, more sold-out tours and newfound admiration from fans who might otherwise never have followed the trio. But, needless to say, they remained deeply polarizing enough that a return invitation from the NFL (or any other major sports league) was out of the question. It took the DNC for the Chicks to find another mass audience that would greet their version of the anthem as deeply stirring — and recognize these battle-anthem singers as combat veterans themselves.”

Variety further said of the 2020 DNC rendition, “Their performance made the anthem feel — maybe for one of the few times since it was codified into the American canon — like something was deeply at stake, besides whether or not the singer would blow it on the final notes. It felt like a declaration of war on who gets to claim the mantle of patriotism. It felt, in other words, like the latent sorrow, anger and tempered hope underlying the entire Democratic convention.”

Pink has also been reported as singing at the closing night of the 2024 convention, with an appearance believed to be leading into Kamala Harris’ climactic speech. The first three nights of the DNC included performances by John Legend, Jason Isbell, Patti LaBelle, Maren Morris, Common and Mickey Guyton, with a cameo by Lil Jon during a music-driven roll call.

On Thursday night, though they’re not slated to perform “Not Ready to Make Nice,” The Chicks will look to reclaim their own narrative once again.