Even with the political sharing space with the awfully personal--"Silent House," about Maines' grandmother succumbing to Alzheimer's; "So Hard," about Maguire and Maines' difficulty conceiving; "Lullaby," a song for the kiddos--it doesn't take a Billboard bachelor's to figure this isn't going to get much play on country radio stations still slingin' ass-kickin' anthems about colors that don't run produced by assholes who can't sing. Besides, Taking the Long Way takes the short cut from classic-rock to folk-pop, which only means it splits the difference between Fleetwood Mac and Carole King. Of course, the Warrior Princess thing only gets you so far; hence the new producer (Rick Rubin, running out of hipster cachet after making coal with Neil Diamond), the new collaborators (some Heartbreakers, a Red Hot Chili Pepper, a Jayhawk and the dude from...Semisonic), the new sound and the new songs, which fight for their right to fight. Last I looked, no one was stopping them.