close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • Brooks & Dunn on ‘Reboot II’, ’90s Heydey, new music and Legacy
    news

    Brooks & Dunn on ‘Reboot II’, ’90s Heydey, new music and Legacy

    Vaseline Posted on

    “After all that nonsense, and the thousands of dollars of confetti and balloons and steering heads with mirrors on them, and all the crazy things we did, no one talks about that anymore,” says Kix Brooks. “They’re all talking about our music.”

    It’s something like revenge for power country duo Brooks & Dunn – and a feeling that assuages ​​the long-held fear of a superstar. “We wrote all these songs, we made all these records, and we’re really proud of the music,” he says, “but would they only remember that we were playing as clowns?”

    Brooks and his partner, Ronnie Dunn, were part of the rise of country music in the 1990s, the era of Garth, Shania and “Achy Breaky Heart,” and a new sense of spectacle that transformed the genre. Brooks & Dunn broke through with their 1991 debut Brand new humanwhich yielded four Number Ones hits. And for nearly three decades, they never stopped, becoming the biggest duo in country music history, with more than 30 million albums sold and 20 singles that reached the top of the charts.

    Brooks & Dunn announced their retirement in 2009, but by the time they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019, they had already reunited and returned to the road. A new generation, obsessed with ’90s country in all its excess and glory, was now defending their music; Luke Combs opened his shows with ‘Brand New Man’, Kacey Musgraves reworked their 1992 hit ‘Neon Moon’. Inspired by this support, Brooks & Dunn re-recorded a dozen of their hits with younger guest stars (including Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown and Cody Johnson) for the 2019 album. Rebootwhich returned them to number one.

    Five years later they revised the concept again Restart II– but this time they reached a broader range of collaborators, from today’s country royalty (Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson) to representatives from the worlds of bluegrass (the Earls of Leicester), blues (Marcus King, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram ), and even heavy metal (Halestorm, who contributes a heavy-riffing “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”).

    The duo’s management made the requests, with the idea that they would only ask once, wouldn’t beg anyone to join, and if it didn’t work out, no hard feelings. “I think it shines a light on the fact that we’ve been around so long that you can call up 20 people, and there’s a song that they would all choose,” says Dunn. “I think it’s a great idea, and I say that because we can’t take credit for it.”

    During a quick stop in New York City to explore the Today show, Brooks, 69, and Dunn, 71, sat down in a dark corner of their downtown hotel lobby to talk about Restart IIthe legacy of ’90s country, their mixed emotions about releasing new music, and the songwriting foundation that keeps them honest.

    “I remember Dale Earnhardt telling me one day,” Brooks says, “we were talking about all the crazy things we were doing, and he was going on and on about the boat he was building and whatever. And then he stopped in the middle of this frenzy and said, “Never forget car number 3.” He got really serious, like, OK, don’t forget the music that got you here.”

    This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

    Esquire: The range of styles on this album is much wider than on the first part. Was that baked into the idea going in, or did that emerge as we went along?

    Ronnie Dunn: It was the mandate that came in, but as it developed it became more and more fun and varied. But what’s cool is that we can stop saying we’re the artists of Brooks & Dunn and address the fact that maybe we’re songwriters along the way. I remember Haggard coming into the studio back in the day. We were cutting ‘Hard Workin’ Man’ and I was so embarrassed. I thought, “Shit, this isn’t hardcore country.” That’s always the monkey on my back. My mom always said, “When are you going to do a country song?” But Haggard emphasized the fact that “before I’m Merle Haggard, I’m a songwriter.”

    People always ask, “What do you want your legacy to be?” And everyone says, “Well, we just want to have a long life.” Okay, but that longevity has to do with writing. In my world, yes. I set myself on fire and jump across the stage, but it’s about songwriting.

    Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn at the 28th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards

    Vinnie Zuffante//Getty Images
    Kix Brooks (left) and Ronnie Dunn (right) won multiple awards at the 28th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in May 1993.

    Kix Brooks: I don’t mean this in a pretentious way, but with some help from completely different mindsets, people coming from a completely different place in their creativity, these songs feel a bit timeless to me. When we wrote this stuff, I didn’t think of it that way. We wrote about a time we were in.

    Which interpretations have surprised you the most?

    RD: “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” featuring Megan Moroney. We had never heard that voice before; she had been with us for two years, and we had not heard that voice. She’s dressed like Barbie on stage, has a sweet little voice, and then she sits down and starts doing that and sounds like she’s been on a coke bender for three days and smoking Camels. That song is definitely not a ballad like we did, but she slowed it down. And with a lot of them, if you slow it down and remove the radio production, or whatever we’ve been guilty of, these songs take on a whole new life.

    I understand that the Jelly Roll session for “Believe” was unforgettable.

    RD: He came in and we had a 70-piece orchestra set up in the studio, it was huge, plus a choir. I have the lyrics sheet: ‘Okay, you sing here, I sing here’ and I show it to him. But he’s running fast, so I don’t know if he’s done much prep work, and if not, I wouldn’t blame him. He said he still had an hour and a half. Okay, let’s get after it. We start and he says, “I need to go to the top of the building and walk around to calm my nerves.” We go a few more steps and he says, “I need to calm down again, I’m so damn intimidated by this.” So by the end of the session it was quite colorful, he had that too Real calmed down.

    With all these guys, ’90s country has taken on a kind of mythical meaning — and not just for listeners who grew up with it.

    RD: I don’t think Morgan was born when “Neon Moon” came out.

    KB: We chased so much bullshit with everyone in the ’90s, only the money and time we spent figuring out a way to literally swing from the top seats back to the stage and blow ourselves up and shoot ourselves out of cannons to shoot. As much as I enjoyed doing that kind of thing – Ronnie was probably often dragging his feet, kicking and screaming, because he came from a much more conservative background.

    RD: But that was the thing in the ’90s. The country, in terms of numbers, had come into its own. We were going to show up in Seattle, Aerosmith had played Friday night and we’re playing Saturday night, and all this production they’re bringing – everyone, Buffett and his shenanigans, whoever. Suddenly you’re thrown into that arena, drawing those kinds of numbers, and we didn’t know what to do. Probably overcompensated in many ways.

    So what is it? There was the glitter and the explosions and everything that came with it, but clearly something remains connected.

    KB: At the risk of saying the completely wrong thing, I discovered Waylon and Willie during the Outlaw era, when I was in college. Then I discovered a whole new level of country music. I feel like there’s a young crowd now, that college crowd, but we’re the same age as the older guys.

    RD: I’ve actually thought about this a bit. What other ’90s artists have a broad enough catalog to cover this spectrum? I’m not blowing smoke up my own ass, but it’s an eye-opener.

    KB: Alan (Jackson) would probably be one, just off the top.

    RD: Yeah, but his stuff was more traditional, country-y and we kind of ran around that. A while ago I was with Garth, he came into the office and was looking at all the songwriting records on the wall. And he says, “Do you write all of those?” I said yes, or co-wrote or whatever. He says, “And they were all number one hits?” I said yes. He says, “I only had nine number one hits.” And I just turned to him and said, “Well, how did that work out for you, Garth?”

    There has been so much talk in recent years about who belongs in Nashville, who can participate in country music. What is the variety on? Restart II represent?

    KB: As far as genres go, I’ve never thrown stones at kids and what they do. Ronnie and I quoted the Stones all the time. And I was definitely a big Allman Brothers fan, Eagles had great songs. But when I really started having bands in college and playing clubs and stuff like that, we played all sorts of things. We played “Hey, Good Looking” and we played Frank Zappa. It didn’t matter to us; if we liked it, if we thought it would take place in a bar, it was on our set list.

    In the student houses of 20 or 30 years ago they had hip hop on high, they dance to whatever the girls feel like. But they’re country boys, all over Ole Miss and Alabama. Then when those guys get to Nashville, they start writing songs, and when Florida Georgia Line and those hits started coming out, it’s crazy everywhere and it pisses off traditionalists. But Buck Owens told us a long time ago – he said, “(Brad) Paisley says there should be more Telecaster in country music, but they booed me off the stage of the Grand Ole Opry because I played a Telecaster.” This shit is just constantly changing.

    RD: But there is one thing that doesn’t change. It looks like Dick Clark’s dance party, remember? He played the song and asked the audience, if it has a good beat and you can dance to it, boom.

    Has this project inspired you to make new music?

    RD: We’re working on it now. I put a lot of things in the can on purpose. We just don’t want to get ahead of this.

    KB: I was a little hesitant. We’ve talked about it a lot over the years. Some of it is live: you go to see the Stones and you want to see ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ and ‘Satisfaction’ and then they play a new blues song and everyone takes a break. So we’re a little hesitant when it comes to new music when we have this catalog that we already have to shorten.

    RD: But my deal is that I’m not that conservative. I sense that you feel that hesitation, but I don’t want to just go under as a franchise. I recently watched this Springsteen documentary and he’s making new music. Bring it! That’s where I come from. Don’t just go out and dance and take the money, let’s throw some new things at it. Our number of tours is higher than ever before, and we’ve had some good days. But at the same time, the need to create is quite important.

    KB: I agree with that. I’m not going to stop writing songs. Again, it’s just a hesitation on my part to release new music and then it’s just not what they want. Suddenly everything is going in the right direction, these songs are just getting a rebirth, so I want it to be something really special. But how long has Springsteen been on tour? Fifty years? He might be a little more tired of playing “Born to Run” than we are of playing “Neon Moon.”

    Current Restart II on Apple Music

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like