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Brooks & Dunn Go Full-Tilt Hillbilly Deluxe
Winningest, Heavy Metal Country Duo Release Tony Brown-Produced CD
August 30
Nashville: Since bursting onto the roiling country
music horizon with "Brand New Man," Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks have made
breaking new ground, pushing the honky tonk envelope and having too much
fun doing it their total mandate. And on August 30, the hardcore
musicians return with Hillbilly Deluxe, an album that merges classic
jukebox country with Brooks & Dunn's jacked-up take on modern sounds in
honky'n'rocking music.
Produced by the legendary Tony Brown (Steve Earle, George Strait, Lyle
Lovett and Patty Loveless, in addition to being a member of the multiple
Grammy-nominated Notorious Cherry Bombs with Rodney Crowell and Vince
Gill), Hillbilly Deluxe is a slightly ragged, fairly organic take on
just how power and accessibility can merge for an intoxicating take on
what Saturday night is made of.
"You never wanna rest on what you've done," says Dunn. "Working with
Tony, it's pure music - front and center every time. He was part of that
country scene that was Emmylou and the Hot Band, which was always just
one match away from blowing the music apart it was so good, so intense,
but also so raw. If you're gonna play country, you wanna strip away a
lot of the stuff, get down to the heart of the matter -- and find songs
that dig a little deeper into the way these folks live their lives. I
mean, Hillbilly Deluxe is IT: it's about how it really is, not the way
the media paints it -- that notion of taking the life as far out as we
know these good ole boys and girls do."
Certainly "Play Something Country," the raving new single which is B&D's
fastest moving ever, is a siren's song of want, release and what matters
to the core on a night on the town, while the down-low title track with
its funky pocket, Rolling Stones background wailing and stop-start
rhythms portrays the essence of modern day "big timing in a small town."
Brooks celebrates female independence with the road-tripping go-git-it-girl
romp "Get Out of Town" and Dunn invokes a classic tears-for-a-quarter
country of classic vintage with "She's About As Lonely As I'm Gonna Let
Her Get."
"With Red Dirt Road, I think we started heading back to what got us
here… meaning out roots," confesses Brooks with a wry grin. "There are
so many ways to make music, but sometimes just plugging straight into
your inspirations is the very best way to go -- so you'll hear 'em, ALL
of 'EM: the Stones, Jones, Haggard, Tom Petty, a nod even to Rod
Stewart's folkie stuff, the soul that made soul music, but came out of
the churches. It may be the broadest record we've ever done -- and it
sure was fun."
With the soul-stirring "I Believe," a hushed recollection of a
friendship with an old man of strong faith and the rites of passage when
he passes on, Ronnie Dunn of the always-put-you-there vocals finds a new
vocal plateau -- as his witness about what matters is transformative. In
addition to Larry Willoughby's chestnut "Building Bridges," which
features vocal support from Sheryl Crow and Vince Gill, the romping duo
cut Radney Foster's "Again" and the corner-of-the-mouth drawl rap/wailer
"Whiskey Do My Talking" that brings liquid bravado to a bar-room boil
with a little swagger and bottled courage.
Currently blazing the summer festival circuit, Brooks & Dunn will get
their own show on the road later this summer. With a "Play Something
Country" video in power rotation on CMT, the 28-million-selling, mondo-award
winning 4-time Entertainers of the Year are ready to get back in the
chute and go for eight.
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