More than three decades after Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn released Brooks & Dunn’s debut album, Brand New Man, the men slid onto the couch in American Songwriter’sNashville office. Dunn is wearing his signature sunglasses—don’t ask him to take them off. He won’t. Brooks laments journalists’ questions.
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“Someone asks, ‘What’s the craziest thing that ever happened to you on tour?’” Brooks recalls to American Songwriter. “Then, you’re just like dumbfounded. You’re just like, ‘Where do I start?’ I don’t know.”
With 20 No. 1 hits and the ranking of the best-selling duo of all time, Brooks & Dunn has no shortage of stories to tell. They aren’t limited to songs to celebrate, either. Brooks & Dunn released Reboot II on November 15. The collaborative 18-song album reimagines the duo’s biggest hits and fan favorites.
Unlike the original Reboot in 2019, where Brooks & Dunn asked their duet partners to color inside the lines on the re-recordings, this time, the mixed-genre guest artists, including Jelly Roll, Megan Moroney, Lainey Wilson, and Halestorm, had no rules in the recording studio.
“The message was sent out to all the artists, ‘You pick the song, you do it like you want to do it, and we’ll fall in line,’” Dunn says. “‘We’ll be in the studio, kind of work with you if you want to.’ That turned it into a whole new thing. It was a blast, a great time.”
The tracklist includes “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” with hard rockers Halestorm, “Rock My World (Little Country Girl)” with Marcus King Band, “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” with Megan Moroney, “Brand New Man” with Warren Zeiders and “Believe” with Jelly Roll, which the artists performed together on the CMA Awards in November.
The duo credits their manager, Clarence Spalding, with the Reboot II idea. When Spalding asked Brooks & Dunn if they wanted to do a second version of Reboot, they said, “I don’t know. Do we?”
By the time Spalding gauged their interest in the idea, he was already talking to artists about participating. The manager and Brooks agreed they loved rock ‘n’ roll, Americana blues guitarist Marcus King, hard rockers Halestorm, and blues singer Kingfish.
“It’s people that are really catching their wave now and a few up-and-comers that people may not be as familiar with,” Brooks says of the duo’s musical guests. “Everybody came in knowing what they were doing.”
Some of the artists brought in their own bands and producers. Jelly Roll recorded “Believe” with an orchestra. Moroney worked with her producer Kristian Bush and their regular set of musicians on the song to create what Dunn said was one of the most surprising tracks on the album.
“She sounded like she’d been up for three days on a bender smoking Camel filterless cigarettes,” Dunn recalls. “That’s something we didn’t hear from that sweet little blonde in cowgirl boots on stage on tour.”
Dunn adds Bush and Moroney took “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” to an unexpected place and called it “one of my favorite cuts.”
“Re-imagining ‘Ain’t Nothin’ Bout You’ was really an exercise in following Megan’s voice,” Bush says. “She told me that when she sang it in her key, even without any instruments, there was more heartbreak.”
Bush explains that the band followed her vocal attitude, and the song became piano-forward and moody. Then he had to find direction for Brooks & Dunn’s vocal.
“I am such a fan that I found it a personal challenge even asking them to sing certain lines or harmonies, but they were not only gracious and open-minded, they kept encouraging me to just go with what I was hearing,” Bush says. “I love how it turned out.”
Performed in their hard-rocking style, Halestorm’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” is mildly reminiscent of the 1991 original. The idea to get a heavy rock band to cover the career-making hit started as a joke. The men discussed ways to steer their songs in unexpected directions on Reboot II when Dunn jokingly blurted out that Metallica should cover “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.”
Halestorm stepped up a few days after they headlined London’s iconic OVO Arena Wembley. Even though the rockers are famous worldwide, Brooks says he was sure some country music fans wouldn’t know who they were. Even Brooks & Dunn were shocked when they showed up at the studio to record.
“Holy cow,” Dunn explains. “The drummer shows up. We’re supposed to be country guys; I think we are, but the guy had green hair.”
The drummer’s name was Arejay Hale; it didn’t matter what color his hair was in the recording studio because he wowed everyone with his skill.
“He kicks it off with that lick,” Dunn says. “No kidding, everybody in the control room, you just felt the energy explode.”
The sound engineer jumped up and started twisting knobs to adjust the volume. Brooks says Dann Huff, the iconic producer and guitarist overseeing the project, looked at him over the soundboard and told him the band was “really good.”
“They drove the hell out of it,” Brooks says. “I’m just thinking, ‘This is going to be fun to watch Ronnie jump in the middle of this.’ And he totally did. When the tracks came over to me to do some backgrounds on it, I’m like, ‘Hell yeah.’”
“They’re such a good band, such a good vibe,” Huff says of Halestorm. “The whole record was, ‘Bring in your interpretation.’ With Halestorm, it was shock and awe.”
Jelly Roll’s recording session was the opposite. Brooks & Dunn’s longtime label group, Sony Music Nashville, footed the bill for an approximate 60-person orchestra and choir. They spent the day recording at Nashville’s famed Ocean Way Studios inside a converted church on Music Row. Huff’s father made arrangements for strings in Los Angeles, and Huff always wanted to dive into the process.
Sony approved the recording session with dozens of musicians at the last minute. “If you’re wondering why the lights are out at Sony right now,” Brooks jokes.
Dunn says Sony told them not to worry about the cost and to keep going, which is a rare luxury in today’s recording industry.
“That’s actually one of the most surprising dynamics,” Dunn says. “The amount of money and effort Sony put into the record.”
Brooks adds: “It was money well spent, though. It’s a hell of a cut.”
As imaginative as some singers were with the new versions of Brooks & Dunn’s hits, others didn’t know what to do or stuck closely to the original version. Morgan Wallen didn’t want to deviate far from the duo’s beloved version of “Neon Moon.” Brooks remembers Wallen came in wearing his tracksuit fresh from a workout. He was calm and ready to get to work. Wallen had already started playing with the original track. While Wallen may have slightly adjusted “Neon Moon” to fit his vision, there were no drastic changes.
“He had maybe added a little sauce to it,” Dunn says. “They came in with a classical guitar and played a little Mexicali kind of vibe on there. It’s got a real neat kind of south of the border vibe going on, but not really a huge departure.”
The duo says Warren Zeiders didn’t know where to start. Dunn remembers him being tentative and unsure of production. Dunn let him relax and then told him he could take the song anywhere he wanted. But the chorus stumped Zeiders.
“I said, ‘Let’s go to Nirvana on its ass,’” Dunn recalls. “And sure enough, it was just ‘Bam, there it went.’”
However, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram may have the most memorable story about his time in the recording studio with Brooks & Dunn. Kingfish, a rock, blues, soul, and R&B guitarist, collaborated with the Country Music Hall of Famers on “Hard Workin’ Man.” He left the studio with more than just an experience—thanks to Spalding.
Brooks recalls that during a recording break, the duo’s manager walked over with a guitar. When Spalding opened the case, it was a B.B. King Black Beauty 335. Brooks was impressed, but then he noticed the pickups’ details had been rubbed off from playing.
“I go, ‘Is this B.B. King’s guitar?’” he says.
A friend of Spalding’s had toured with King. King gave the friend the guitar, which the friend gave to Spalding. Spalding wanted the duo to give the instrument to Kingfish.
“Clarence goes, ‘He doesn’t want a guitar from some fricking manager,’” Brooks says. “‘You guys got to give him a guitar. I’m like, ‘Wow. Are you sure?’”
Spalding told the duo it had been in his closet but that the instrument’s rightful place was with Kingfish. Brooks & Dunn walked toward Kingfish carrying the guitar and said, “Hey man, check this out.” The guitarist instantly knew it was King’s guitar.
“He goes, ‘Oh wow, is so dope,’” Brooks remembers. “I said, ‘Yeah, you can see he really played this thing. It’s not just a guitar shop deal.’”
Kingfish replied in awe, “‘No shit, man.’” Then he tried to give the guitar back to Brooks & Dunn. They told him they wanted him to keep the instrument. He was in disbelief.
Brooks remembers saying, “Oh man, nobody ever gave me anything like this.”
Then Brooks told Kingfish he should have the guitar. Kingfish thanked him and asked him how long he had had it.
“I go, ‘Not very long,’” Brooks says, laughing.
As for Reboot II, Dunn says they would “turn it loose and let it eat.” They think it will be interesting to see what happens, predict the collaborations will make a heavy impact on social media, and that the music and their new creative partners have the potential to change and grow their audience.
“There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to go, ‘What?’” Brooks says. “And there’s going to be a lot of people who are going to go, ‘Holy cow, I love this.”
At this stage in Brooks & Dunn’s career, the singers believe the cross-genre and cross-generation collaborations will be a “really good shot in the arm.” (Editor’s Note: The Duo won the 2024 CMA Award for Duo of the Year in November)
[RELATED: Ronnie Dunn Is Taking an “Eight-Week Vacation” After Suffering an Injury]
“It’s really exciting not just to put a record out but to do something this diverse and different,” Brooks says.
Dunn adds, “No limits.”
Because most of the songs have already been hits, there isn’t the same kind of pressure that comes with releasing an album of completely new material. They just wonder if fans will accept the new versions.
“It’s hard to believe at some level that it’s not going to be accepted,” Brooks says. “You have to be prepared when you hang it out there like that to accept a certain amount of rejection. It’s not like we made just another Brooks & Dunn record.”
Photo by Matthew Berinato
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