"What was even more impressive was to sit down with this bunch and turn
them loose to do the songs in whatever way fit their artistic vision. The
fun part was we weren’t chasing the original recordings or arrangements or
our versions."
When the album "Cowboy Town" was released in October of 2007, it was not only the 10th studio album, but also the last project with new music by Brooks & Dunn to date. Barely 2 years later (in August of 2009), the duo surprisingly announced their musical retirement at the end of their The Last Rodeo Tour. Kix Brooks was 54 years old and Ronnie Dunn was 56.
In a span of almost 20 years, the two have made country music history with over 30 million albums sold. This makes them not only the most successful duo in country music, but according to some sources, also the best-selling duo in music history in general.
But it's not that easy to draw the final curtain. In June of 2015,
Brooks & Dunn returned after a few solo releases, to the stage of
the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. They performed
there with Reba McEntire and their show "Together in Vegas",
which -due to its success was repeatedly extended - until 2021.
From there the path to a recording studio was not that far. So in April of 2019 Brooks & Dunn released a new studio album. Although "Reboot" did not contain any new material, but only new recordings of 12 of some of the most well known Brooks & Dunn hits, it still entered the Billboard 200 pop chart at number 8. And it brought the legendary duo back to the concert stages of North America on their Reboot Tour from 2021 - 2024.
When the duo eventually released the project "Reboot II" on November 15, 2024, it was not entirely clear at first whether this was just a rehash of the previous album from 2019. After all, 6 tracks from "Reboot" also appeared on "Reboot II". But it also included 12 other songs from Brooks & Dunn's vast cataloge spanning 2 decades.
In an interview with iHeartCountry, the two explained the creation of and the rules for the new project. "I never thought we'd do Reboot II," emphasized Ronnie Dunn. "It was never planned to do that. This has been our manager's passion. He's the one to call us to do [Reboot] and that worked and it felt good and he came back and goes that we want to do Reboot II and he says Sony wants to be very much involved with that and he says there is no limit to the budget."
At the same time it was not meant to be a repeat of the first album, but rather a project with no rules: "18 artists, 18 different songs, they get to pick the songs and do them the way they want to. We all meet in the studio when it comes time to record it and we collaborate. But they have the lion share of how the song comes out in this project."
"They can use their bands, they can use their producer, they can use our producer and our studio band," added Kix Brooks. "You know, it's all over the place. Most of the acts came in with their bands and had rehearsed the songs the way they wanted to do them. So we started with something that was already pretty well put together."
The finished product is refreshingly versatile and at the same time a testament to the longevity of Brooks & Dunn's music. Or as Ronnie Dunn put it with billboard.com: "I think how lucky we are to have these songs that you can push the chameleon button on, and they change colors and keep on ticking."
The album opens with 'Play Something Country', originally from 2005 and the album "Hillbilly Deluxe", written by Ronnie Dunn and Terry McBride. "Lainey was one of the first artists to get in the studio with us for this project. She came head-to-toe in flames, bell-bottoms and all, and added that Louisiana swagger like only she could," grinned Kix Brooks. Together they put the song on a distinct ZZ Top burner.
Next Morgan Wallen put a very traditional sound on 'Neon Moon', the third single from B&D's first album from 1993. Only a soft Spanish guitar sets the arrangement apart from the original.
Marcus King brings funky blues-rock to the already very rock-driven 'Rock My World (Little Country Girl)'. "Back in the day when we were in college, I lived for guitar solos that go on forever," enthuses Ronnie Dunn when talking to grammy.com. "So it was so refreshing to hear that, especially in Nashville."
Megan Moroney's interpretation of 'Ain't Nothing 'Bout You' (2001) becomes a particular highlight. Produced by Kristian Bush, the song becomes a piano ballad in emo-cowgirl style. "That song is definitely not a ballad the way we went about it," Ronnie Dunn emphasized at esquire.com.
An extra layer of emotion gets added by Jelly Roll and a 60-piece orchestra on the timeless Brooks & Dunn classic 'Believe' from 2005.
'She Likes to Get Out Of Town' is a deep cut also from the album "Hillbilly Deluxe" (2005), which shows the rock side of Brooks & Dunn. It was written by Kix Brooks and Bob DiPiero. "I wanted Jaren [Johnston] on this record because I just love The Cadillac Three," Kix Brooks said at musicrow.com. "I was looking forward to seeing how they were going to sling it and man, he kicked off this deep swamp groove. I said, 'You’ve got to be kidding. I freaking love this,' and I grabbed a harp and jumped all over it with him."
No song is more associated with Brooks & Dunn than 'Boot Scootin' Boogie' from their 1992 debut album "Brand New Man". It became their fourth number one hit in a row, sparked a renaissance of line dancing in America and beyond, was re-released on the follow-up album "Hard Workin' Man" as a 6 1/" minute club mix version and became the standard encore at the duo's live shows.
"That's the song I'm most afraid of, even though I love what they do and
what they did to the song," Ronnie Dunn told grammy.com.
"It was my crazy idea making the call to our manager to see if we could get
someone like Metallica
to cover the song." The band that ended up covering the song was hard rock/metal band Halestorm with singer Lzzy Hale.
"They had just come into the studio from having just sold out OVO Arena Wembley in London two days prior to making it back to Nashville to cut this thing," said Kix Brooks. "Despite this, when they came in, they were prepared. They had rehearsed and learned the song. I remember Dann getting the biggest grin on his face as he looked over to the console and said, 'This band is so freaking good!'."
"[Lzzy Hale] She can sing like she's gargling a chainsaw," added Ronnie Dunn. "And the next day still go do a show!"
Hardy created a screaming metal version out of 'Hillbilly Deluxe', while at the other end of the musical spectrum The Earls of Leicester recorded a bluegrass version of 'How Long Gone' (1998).
In between, Grammy-winning Christone "Kingfisher" Ingram shaped 'Hard Workin' Man' with the blues of his guitar, while Corey Kent concluded the project with the 9/11 theme of 'Only In America' (2001) in singer-songwriter style.
By now Kix Brooks has turned 69 and Ronnie Dunn 71, but their passion for music seems stronger than ever. The duo has already announced the Neon Moon Tour for 2025 and in interviews the two have also confirmed new original music coming when the timing will be right.
"I don't know anybody in this town, in this generation of country music, who could say that these guys are not influences on what they do," Lainey Wilson emphasizes. "They were the soundtrack to my childhood."
And Kix Brooks expressed his own amazement in a recent interview, when he said: "One night last year, I was just looking at the crowd and it just looked so young, so I asked, 'How many of y'all are at your first Brooks & Dunn show?' Almost 70% of that crowd put their hands in the air."
"I said, 'Wow, welcome to the party!"
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