NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country radio may be ready to make nice with the Dixie Chicks.

The grudge dates back to 2003 when many country stations stopped playing the popular trio after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized President Bush.

But the Chicks’ new single, “Not Ready to Make Nice,” is now in rotation in several major markets, pushing it to No. 36 on Billboard’s country singles chart after its first full week of airplay. Other stations, however, have been slower to embrace it.

“I think a lot of people are in a wait-and-see mode,” said Wade Jessen, director of Billboard’s country charts. “The next couple of weeks are really going to tell the tale.”

Maines told a London audience on the eve of the war in Iraq that the group was “ashamed” the president was from their home state of Texas.

Back in the U.S., their music was boycotted and the Chicks said they received death threats, leading them to install metal detectors at their shows.

Maines later said she regretted the phrasing of her remark, but remained passionately against the war. In January she told Entertainment Weekly magazine that she was disappointed with country music and that she’s “pretty much done” with the genre.

In stores May 23, the new album, “Taking the Long Way,” is produced by Rick Rubin, primarily a rock and rap producer who also crafted Johnny Cash’s last albums. The record has been described as more rock-oriented, featuring musicians from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Petty’s band, the Heartbreakers.

The first single, which starts with a lone acoustic guitar and then builds in intensity, was co-written by the trio – which also includes banjo and guitar player Emily Robison and fiddle and mandolin player Martie Maguire.

It addresses the controversy head on. Maines sings in the chorus, “I’m not ready to make nice. I’m not ready to back down.”