Brooks & Dunn Know "That's What It's All About"

Lead Single From Greatest Hits Drops July 5, After Its ACM Debut

Nashville: Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks have a way with a song. Whether they're rowdy with "You Can't Take The Honky Tonk Out of the Girl," a little tender with "That's What She Gets" or finding redemption in real life with "Red Dirt Road," the 4-time Entertainers of the Year know how to mine emotional veins from people's lives and strike a chord of recognition.

When they were looking for a special song for the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas May 26, they found something that upped the ante: Craig Wiseman and Steve McEwan's "That's What It's All About." The surging song that merges the sweep of Jesse Colin Young's "Get Together" with the syncopation of Bob Dylan's "Subterrean Homesick Blues" is a celebration of everything that the hard-charging duo values.

"It's the little things that we get so caught up in in our daily lives that sometimes keep us from seeing what matters," says turbo-vocalist Ronnie Dunn, "that's what this song is about -- recognizing those things that aren't so important and putting your focus back on what is! Because all that high-powered job stuff and the little things at home that make you crazy aren't what it's about… and you can lose sight of that.

"This is a pretty rocking song… It feels good… and what it says is right dead-on about, well, what it IS all about."

With universally strong response to the song from their ACM performance, Brooks & Dunn put it on the top of the stack of a very strong contenders for the lead single from their upcoming Greatest Hits. And they couldn't be happier.

"I already told a few people it's what happens when the guy from 'Red Dirt Road' gets back there and figures it all out with Mary," says the always animated guitar slinger Kix Brooks with a chuckle. "I mean, you dig into those lyrics -- and they roll by you pretty fast -- you just go, 'YEAH!"

"A chorus like 'It's a moment frozen in time/where the reasons all begin to rhyme, Where love's a little bigger and you finally start figuring it out/ That's what it's all about…' says it pretty spot-on. And it feels good! It's one of those songs that you just get swept up in and surrender to. And it's big fun to play."

With a summer This Year ,You Pitch The Tent tour of major fairs and festivals in front of them, "That's What It's All About" underscores the reality that Brooks & Dunn are playing to. Rowdy good-timing guys who know how to shoot out the lights, but are also about the things which are more enduring.

Having made Year End Best of Lists in USA Today, The Village Voice, The Nashville Scene and No Depression with their platinum-plus Red Dirt Road, the men who've brought you "Brand New Man," "Neon Moon," "Hard Working Man," "You're Gonna Miss Me," "My Maria," "There Ain't Nothin' 'Bout You," "Only In America" and "The Long Good-Bye" set the bar pretty high. With "That's What It's All About," Brooks & Dunn continue clearing it.



"That's What It's All About"

Well you work and you slave
And you spend all day in your thankless job
Then you jump in your Ford And you're door to door with the homebound mob
Then you pull in the drive and you hit the chair
And the one that you love is waiting there

And, hey --
That's what it's all about
Hey, this is the life I couldn't live without
It's a moment frozen there in time
Where the reasons all begin to rhyme
Where love's a little bigger
And you finally start figuring out
That's what it's all about

Well, they won't go to bed
Or do what you said or eat their food
They cry and they fuzz and you can't even cuss 'cause they'll say it, too
You're tired and you're numb And you're stressed and you're mad
And she smiles and says 'I love you, Dad'

And, hey --
That's what it's all about
Hey, this is the life I couldn't live without
It's a moment frozen there in time
Where the reasons all begin to rhyme
Where love's a little bigger
And you finally start figuring out
That's what it's all about

-- Steve McEwan & Craig Wiseman

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