Brooks & Dunn have been in the news a lot lately, and are enjoying a legitimate late career renaissance.
In November they were named the CMA Vocal Duo of the Year, 17 years after their last win for the award, and 32 years removed from their first. And it wasn’t a swan song win, it felt legitimate.
The duo also recently released a new album called Reboot II featuring remakes of many of the band’s biggest hits, including some really good ones (see the Megan Moroney and Jake Worthington tracks), and some really really bad ones (check out the HARDY track, if you dare).
But what Brooks & Dunn fans really want to know is if or when the duo might be interested in releasing some legitimately new music. It’s been since 2007’s Cowboy Town that they did. Well, according to Kix Brooks, we might be hearing new music from the duo sooner than later.
Ronnie Dunn never ceased releasing new music. 2011, 2014, 2016, and 2022 all saw new, original albums from Dunn, including 2022’s 100 Proof Neon that looked to rekindle the ’90s country sound that Brooks & Dunn helped popularize. Now, the recent retirement of Kix Brooks from hosting the radio show “American Country Countdown” means he could spend more time working with Ronnie Dunn on new music.
When asked by Billboard if stepping away from the radio show will allow Kix to focus more on new music, he replied, “It’s not that I felt like I ever lost focus on Brooks & Dunn, but it is a good point in my life, especially if we are going to make new music. That’s a little deeper commitment in terms of creative focus and really getting your head in the game and seeing if we can come up with something good.”
When pressed point blank on if we could expect new Brooks & Dunn music in the next two years, Kix replied, “In the next two years? I’d say pretty good… I’m sure Ronnie’s got his own idea of how that could work. But I know he’s been writing a lot of songs. He’s sending me songs all the time. Ronnie’s fired up about getting into that. And I’m certainly not going to hold him back, and I will do my best to keep up and do my part.”
All of this sounds promising. But will we see the Hall of Fame duo doing what they do best, which is reprising the ’90s country sound that is still so popular with country fans young and old today, or will they try to compose radio hits to try and find some sort of moment of contemporary relevance?
“As far as Ronnie and I, we don’t have any honest expectations of having a No. 1 record, any more than probably George Strait or Garth or Reba,” Kix says. “We’re not necessarily making music now to try and fight our way up to No. 1. We’ve definitely had our time in that spotlight, and would it be great? Yeah, sure. But we’ve been doing this long enough to know how the world turns here, so that’s not something that we would have delusions of.”
This all sounds very promising. Now, we all just need to be a little patient for it all to materialize. After all, Ronnie Dunn is now 71, and Kix Brooks is 69.
