Wal-Mart.com
-Todd Sterling
On their ninth studio album, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn fuel up the
rocket engine in their jacked-up slick black Cadillac and take another
run down the dirt road they were last spotted on. Hillbilly Deluxe
finds the dynamic duo rocking the turbo-tonk nation via a raw
production thick with rock and roll guitars, top notch songwriting,
and Kix's and Ronnie's unmistakable vocal blend.Hillbilly Deluxe is
southern fried roots music at its best. The Stonesy "Play Something
Country," the first single from the disc, primes listeners for a
collection of country-rock that picks up where the duo's last album,
Red Dirt Road, left off. Swelling organ, jangly acoustic guitars and
heart-bleeding steel accentuate Dunn's stone-cold country vocal on
"She's About As Lonely As I m Going To Let Her Get." Dunn, arguably
the best singer in Nashville today, injects the song with an oceanic
amount of whiskey-stained emotion.
Brooks, who has always been a better harmony singer than lead man,
steps up to the mic on four of the album's 13 tracks and bangs out his
best performances ever. Kix untangles his vocal chords for the
Americana-brushed "My Heart's Not A Hotel." The energetic half of
Brooks & Dunn takes the B&D Cadillac through Bruce Springsteen
country. Brooks watches a friend gamble on love over and over again
with a girl as fickle as lady luck herself, on the rawboned "One More
Roll Of The Dice." "Her West Was Wilder" has the gravelly-throated
singer/songwriter looking back on a flame that was extinguished long
ago.
Pedal-to-the-floor honky tonk gems "She Likes To Get Out Of Town"
(another track voiced by Brooks) and "Hillbilly Deluxe" burn like
Mississippi blacktop on a hot August afternoon. No doubt Dunn will be
stomping the heels of his silver-tipped cowboy boots on stages all
across the country this summer as he sings the song. The
half-spoken/half-sung "Whiskey Do My Talkin'" and the party track
"Just Another Neon Night" are classic Brooks & Dunn. On the latter,
Ronnie and Kix take the faithful to small town America where weekends
are made for good times. Dunn is in fine voice on the gospel painted
"Believe" and Radney Foster's brilliant "Again."
Hillbilly Deluxe is being touted as Brooks & Dunn's best album yet,
and for those skeptics out there who think that's just a lot of record
company hyperbole, think again. Kix and Ronnie outdo themselves this
time out and set the bar that much higher for their next album. |
|
The
Herald-Sun
-Alan Sculley
Kix Brooks says it gets harder to be Brooks & Dunn with every album.
Although that may sound like some worn out comic cliché, that simple
realization cuts to the core in explaining what drives Brooks and
Ronnie Dunn to keep pushing on together when they've accomplished
virtually everything a country act could hope to achieve. This is,
after all, a duo that has sold 27 million records, reeled off some
two-dozen hit singles and owns shelves full of country music awards,
including multiple entertainer of the year honors. "When we get to the
point that all that we have left is our hits and fairs and festivals
to play in the summertime, we won't be doing this anymore," Brooks
said. "We have no desire to rest on our laurels and play an oldies
show or whatever. If we can't bring something new and exciting and
challenge ourselves to do something that's special, then we're really,
there's not going to be a Brooks & Dunn. That's what keeps us in the
game. It's that challenge and the excitement and the competition of
having to do something that's special and that's new and fresh." The
realization that Brooks & Dunn needed to embrace the idea of tackling
new creative challenges became especially clear after the duo's 1999
CD, "Tightrope."Even before that CD, Dunn had lobbied to part ways
with producer Don Cook and bring in a new producer and new musicians
to bring fresh energy to the studio process. Brooks balked at the
suggestion. He had started writing songs with Cook years before he and
Dunn were brought together as a recording act in 1990 by former Arista
Records President Tim Dubois. He was torn by his loyalty to Cook.
So the duo compromised. Brooks had Cook produce his tracks for
"Tightrope," while Dunn worked with producer Byron Gallimore. The move
didn't work. Critics felt the songs and performances on "Tightrope"
were lackluster, and sales backed up that opinion. After seeing six
previous albums routinely sell in the millions, "Tightrope" struggled
to reach the 500,000 mark needed to be certified a gold album. The
failure of "Tightrope" forced Brooks and Dunn to take a hard look at
whether they even had a future as a duo, and if so, what artistic
goals should they pursue. Facing those questions, Brooks said,
strengthened their partnership.
"It did open a new level of honesty," he said. "There were very frank
discussions. It's like either we're going to work together or let's
not work together at all. Let's blow it off. If we're going to be a
duo let's be one or let's go the solo route."
Recommitted to their partnership and their music, Brooks & Dunn
teamed with a new producer, Mark Wright, to make "Steers & Stripes."
The 2001 CD restored the duo's commercial momentum, yielding three
number one singles -- "There Ain't Nothing 'Bout You," "Only In
America" and "The Long Goodbye."
With "Steers & Stripes," Brooks & Dunn didn't reinvent their music
so much as they refined and rejuvenated the mix of high-charged
rock-edged country (think of hits like "Boot Scootin' Boogie" or "Hard
Workin' Man") and full-bodied balladry that had been their signature
from day one.
But the next CD, the 2003 release "Red Dirt Road," pushed the
envelope further. Working again with Wright, the duo pursued a
rootsier sound and also brought out a soul music influence that had
never been fully featured in their music. It was the most refreshing
CD in years for Brooks & Dunn and a record Brooks felt really
represented a creative resurgence for the duo.
The new Brooks & Dunn CD, "Hillbilly Deluxe," continues to pursue
the more stripped down and earthy sound of "Red Dirt Road" -- while
still retaining the rocking attitude that has been the Brooks & Dunn
signature from day one.
Fans apparently like what they're hearing. The punchy first single,
"Play Something Country" -- a song Brooks said represents the
fun-loving personality of the CD -- is charging up the charts. The duo
is debuting a few songs from "Hillbilly Deluxe" on tour this summer,
but Brooks said the set as a whole is structured to please long-time
fans. "We've got a couple of songs off the new CD in and we're working
up a couple of more," Brooks said, noting the bulk of the set is
devoted to playing the duo's hits. "I know they [fans] are
disappointed if we don't get a lot of hits in there. When I go to see
somebody play, you know, I go to see, like Tom Petty the other night,
I want to hear 'American Girl' and all of the songs I want to hear. I
don't mind hearing a couple of new songs, but I think people really do
come out to hear the hits, so we try not to beat them over the head
with too much unfamiliar music." |
