Nearly four years after issuing their most recent studio set, the Dixie Chicks [ tickets ] are set to return to the spotlight with the May 23 release of their fourth album, "Taking the Long Way."

The nine-time Grammy winners--who collaborated on the forthcoming set with super-producer Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash)--have co-writing credits on each of the album's 14 tracks, a first for the trio.

"Everything felt more personal this time," lead vocalist Natalie Maines said in a press release. "I go back to songs we've done in the past and there's just more maturity, depth, intelligence on these. They just feel more grown-up."

Backing the Chicks on the set was a Rubin-assembled a band that included Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, session player Larry Knechtel, and Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Dan Wilson (formerly of Semisonic) collaborated with the Dixie Chicks on six songs, and Pete Yorn and Gary Louris of The Jayhawks also received co-writing credits.

The album has a "Southern California vibe" inspired by The Eagles, Petty, and The Mamas and The Papas, according to a press release.

The set's first track is "Not Ready to Make Nice," a song the group co-wrote with Wilson that addresses the furor that followed Maines' comments in opposition to President George W. Bush during a March 2003 London concert. The comments got wide play in the media, and led to boycotts and death threats against the trio.

"The stakes were definitely higher on that song," Dixie Chicks' Emily Robison said in a statement. "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."

The track's lyrics are posted at the group's official website.

Said Maines: "This album was total therapy. I'm way more at peace now. Writing these songs and saying everything we had to say makes it possible to move on."

"Taking the Long Way" follows 2002's "Home," which has sold nearly 6 million copies in the US. The Dixie Chicks' two previous albums--1998's "Wide Open Spaces" and 1999's "Fly"--are certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, signifying US sales of more than 10 million copies.

A summer world tour is planned in support of the new album. Details are forthcoming, according to a press release.