Brooks & Dunn haven’t released an album of new material since 2007 Cowboy townbut when you have a catalog as impressive as theirs, it can be okay to keep building on past glories. Especially when many of today’s hottest artists – Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll – are willing to sing the old hits. That’s the premise of Restart IIa follow-up to that of 2019 Rebootin which 18 Nashville stars come together to put their own spin on songs like ‘Neon Moon’, ‘Believe’ and ‘Hillbilly Deluxe’, with help from B&D themselves.

Ronnie Dunn has said the premise of Restart II There were “no rules,” and for the most part, removing the guardrails was a good thing – but a few car accidents still happen.

The project’s best moments come either from vocalists who can hold their own with Dunn (at 71, still in possession of one of the best pipes in the country), or from inspired musical reinvention. Megan Moroney’s version of “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” takes advantage of both. The Georgia singer’s muted performance, on plaintive piano, turns the previously muscular love song into one of aching heartbreak, and Dunn bravely follows Moroney’s lead into emo country.

Wallen does something similar on “Neon Moon,” dropping his inherent swagger to lean hard into the loneliness; it is perhaps one of his best recorded performances. Riley Green’s forlorn “She Use to Be Mine” and Mitchell Tenpenny’s soulful “That Ain’t No Way to Go” also put machismo aside in favor of real emotion to get results. However, Jake Worthington doesn’t change that: his sharp reading of ‘I’ll Never Forgive My Heart’ is as honest as he is, a real piece of Texan honky-tonk. Likewise, Hailey Whitters stays true to the original arrangement of “She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind,” which evokes 1990s country in all its brilliance.

A few songs get complete left-field reinventions. The Cadillac Three slow down Kix Brooks’ “She Likes to Get Out of Town” to codeine coma levels and capture the Nashville rock trio at their funkiest. Earls of Leicester, Jerry Douglas’ bluegrass supergroup, renders “How Long Gone” as a high, lonely gallop, highlighting the roots of string music that run through country music. And Halestorm, the heavy metal band from Nashville, transforms “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” into a booming scream, thanks to the banshee wails of singer Lzzy Hale. Dunn sits next to her, which makes for the most fun (and insane) song on the record Restart II.

But scream-country doesn’t work anywhere else Restart II. Hardy, one of the most adventurous new artists in the genre, turns “Hillbilly Deluxe” into a cacophonous mess, with the original losing its irresistible groove. Warren Zeiders also smells of ‘Brand New Man’ and opts for a tired whisper-scream arrangement. (Nickelback’s influence on the country today has never been more evident than in Hardy and Zeiders’ versions.)

Like many country albums these days, Restart II suffers most from the track list that is too long. The first Reboot had 12 tight numbers; the sequel is set at 18 and contains six B&D classics that were already covered by various artists in 2019 Reboot. It’s more ‘repetition’“ than Reboot.

Jelly Roll is commissioned to design one of those innovations with ‘Believe’. The country rapper reinterprets Kane Brown’s gospel reading from the ballad into… his own gospel reading. It’s right in Jelly Roll’s wheelhouse, and he acquits himself admirably, but we’ve heard it all before. “This can’t be everything,” Jelly sings at the end of the song. Let’s hope not, for Brooks & Dunn, the country’s best-selling duo. There must be something new.