Brooks & Dunn on ‘Reboot II’, 90’s Heydey, New Music and Legacy

On By Littum

“After all that nonsense and the thousands of dollars of confetti and balloons and steering heads with mirrors all over the place and all the crazy shit we did, nobody’s talking about any of that now,” says Kix Brooks. “They all talk about our music.”

It’s something of a vindication for power-country duo Brooks & Dunn—and a feeling that quells a superstar’s lingering fears. “We wrote all these songs, we made all these records, and we’re really proud of the music,” he says, “but were they just going to remember that we were clowning around?”

Brooks and his partner, Ronnie Dunn, were part of country music’s rocket ship takeoff in the 1990s, the era of Garth, Shania and the “Achy Breaky Hearts” and a new sense of spectacle that transformed the genre. Brooks & Dunn broke through with their debut in 1991 Brand new manwhich spawned four Number Ones hits. And so for nearly three decades, they never slowed down, becoming the biggest duo in country music history with over 30 million albums sold and 20 singles that reached the top of the charts.

Brooks & Dunn announced their retirement in 2009, but by the time they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019, they had already reunited and returned to the road. A new generation, obsessed with ’90s country in all its opulence and glory, was now championing their music; Luke Combs opened his shows with “Brand New Man”, Kacey Musgraves reworked their 1992 hit “Neon Moon”. Inspired by this support, Brooks & Dunn re-recorded a dozen of their hits with younger guest stars (including Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown and Cody Johnson ) for the 2019 album Restartwhich got them back to number one.

Five years later, they revise the concept with Restart II– but this time they reached out to a wider range of collaborators, from today’s country royalty (Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson) to representatives from the world of bluegrass (The Earls of Leicester), blues (Marcus King, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram), and even heavy metal (Halestorm contributing a heavy-riffing “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”).

The duo’s management sent out the requests with the idea that they would only ask once, not beg anyone to participate, and if it didn’t work out, no hard feelings. “I think it shed light on the fact that we’ve been around long enough to where you can call up to 20 people and there’s a song that each of them would pick,” Dunn says. “I think it’s a good idea and I’m going to say that because we can’t take credit for it.”

On a quick stop in New York City to play Today Show, Brooks, 69, and Dunn, 71, sat down in a dark corner of their downtown hotel lobby to talk about Restart IIthe legacy of ’90s country, their mixed feelings about releasing new music, and the songwriting foundation that keeps them honest.

“I remember Dale Earnhardt telling me one day,” Brooks says, “we were talking about all the crazy shit we were doing, and he’s talking about this boat he’s building and whatever. And then he stopped right in the middle in this madness, and he says, “Never forget car number 3.” He got really serious—like, okay, don’t forget the music that got you here.”

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Esquire: The range of styles on this album goes much wider than the first volume did. Was it baked into the idea going in, or did it emerge along the way?

Ronnie Dunn: That was the mandate going in, but as it developed it became more fun and varied. But what’s cool is that we can go back from saying we’re Brooks & Dunn, the performers, and get into the fact that, hey, maybe we’re songwriters along the way. I remember Haggard coming into the studio then. We cut “Hard Workin’ Man” and I was so embarrassed. I was like, “Shit, this isn’t hardcore country.” It’s always the monkey on my back. My mom always used to say, “When are you going to do a country song?” But Haggard emphasized the fact that “before I’m Merle Haggard, I’m a songwriter.”

People always ask, “What do you want your legacy to be?” And everybody says “Well, we just want longevity.” Okay, but that longevity has to do with writing. In my world it does. I want to set myself on fire and jump across the stage, but it’s about writing songs.

kix brooks and ronnie dunn at the 28th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards

Vinnie Zuffante//Getty Images
Kix Brooks (left) and Ronnie Dunn (right) hold several awards at the 28th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in May 1993.

Kix Brooks: I don’t mean to sound pretentious, but with a little help from completely different mindsets, people coming from a completely different place in their creativity, these songs feel a little timeless to me. When we wrote this, I didn’t think so. We wrote in a time when we were inside.

Which interpretations surprised you the most?

RD: “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” featuring Megan Moroney. We had never heard that voice – she had been out with us for two years and we had not heard that voice. She’s dressed like Barbie on stage, has a cute little voice, and then she sits down and starts it, and it sounds like she’s been on a three-day coke bender and smoking camels. That song is definitely not a ballad like we did it, but she slowed it down. And with a lot of them, if you slow down and strip that radio production or whatever it was that we were guilty of, these songs take on a whole new life.

I gather the Jelly Roll session for “Believe” was memorable.

RD: He comes in and we had a 70 piece orchestra set up in the studio, it was massive, plus a choir. I have the lyrics sheet, “OK, you sing here, I sing here,” and I show it to him. But he runs hard, so I don’t know if he had done a lot of prep work – and I wouldn’t blame him if he hadn’t. He said he had an hour and a half. OK, let’s get to it. We start and he says, “I’m going to go up to the top of the building and walk around and calm my nerves.” We go a few more times and he’s like, “I’m going to have to calm down again, I’m just so damn freaked out by this.” So by the end of the session it was quite colorful – he had really calmed down.

With all these guys, ’90s country has taken on this kind of mythic meaning—and not just for listeners who grew up with it.

RD: I don’t think Morgan was born when “Neon Moon” came out.

KB: We chased so much nonsense in the 90s with everyone else, just the money and the time we spent figuring out a way to literally swing from the top seats back to the stage and blow ourselves up and shoot ourselves out of cannons on. As much fun as I had with it – enough to drag Ronnie along kicking and screaming many times because he came from a much more conservative performance background.

RD: But that’s how it was in the 90s. Numerically, the country had come into its own. We showed up in Seattle, Aerosmith had played Friday night, and we’re playing Saturday night, and all the production they bring—everyone, Buffett and his shenanigans, whoever. All of a sudden, you’re thrown into that arena, putting up those kinds of numbers, and we didn’t know what to do. Probably overcompensated in many ways.

So what is it? There was the flash and the explosions and everything that came with it, but it’s clear that something continues to connect.

KB: At the risk of saying the wrong thing, I discovered Waylon and Willie during the Outlaw era when I was in college. That’s when I discovered a whole new level of country music. I feel like there’s a young crowd, that college crowd now, but we’re the same age that the older guys were.

RD: I’ve actually given this some thought. What other 90s artists have a catalog wide enough to cover this spectrum? I’m not blowing smoke up my own ass, but it’s an eye opener.

KB: Alan (Jackson) would probably be one, right from the top.

RD: Yes, but his stuff was more traditional country folk, and we ran around that a bit. I was with Garth a while ago, he came over the office and he was looking at all the songwriter records on the wall. And he says, “Are you writing all of them?” I said yes, or co-wrote or whatever. He says, “And they were all number one hits?” I said yes. He says, “I only had nine number one hits.” And I just turned to him and said, “Well, how did that work out for you, Garth?”

There’s been so much talk the last few years about who belongs in Nashville, who can participate in country music. What does the variety contain? Restart II represent?

KB: As far as genres that come in, I’ve never thrown stones at kids and what they do. Ronnie and I were quoting the Stones all the time. And I was definitely a big Allman Brothers fan, the Eagles had great songs. But when I really started having bands in college and playing clubs and stuff, we played everything. We played “Hey, Good Looking” and we played Frank Zappa. We didn’t care – if we liked it, if we thought it would go over in a bar, it was on our set list.

In frat houses 20, 30 years ago, they started hip-hop, they dance to whatever the girls are into. But they are country boys, all over Ole Miss and Alabama. So when those guys come to Nashville, they start writing songs, and when Florida Georgia Line and these hits started happening, it’s amazing everywhere, and it pisses off traditionalists. But Buck Owens told us a long time ago – he said, “(Brad) Paisley says there needs to be more Telecasters in country music, but they booed me off the stage at the Grand Ole Opry for playing a Telecaster.” This shit just keeps changing.

RD: But there is one thing that does not change. It’s like Dick Clark’s dance party, remember? He would play the song and ask the audience – if it has a good beat and you can dance to it, boom.

So did this project inspire you to make new music?

RD: We are working on it now. I’ve been writing, getting a lot of stuff in the can, on purpose. We just don’t want to get ahead of this one.

KB: I have been a little hesitant. We’ve talked about it a lot over the last few years. Part of it is live – you go see the Stones and you’ll see “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Satisfaction” and then they play a new blues song and everyone takes a potty break. So we’re just a little hesitant about new music when we have this catalog that we already have to trim anyway.

RD: But my deal is that I’m not that conservative. I sense you feel that hesitation, but I don’t want to just go down as a franchise. I saw this Springsteen documentary the other day and he’s making new music. Bring it! That’s where I come from. Don’t just go out there and dance and take the money, let’s throw some new stuff at them. Our numbers on tour are bigger than they’ve ever been and we’ve had some great days. But at the same time, the need to create is quite important.

KB: I agree with that. I won’t stop writing songs. Again, it’s just a reluctance on my part to release new music, and it’s just not what they want. Suddenly everything is rolling in the right direction, these songs are currently having a rebirth, so I want it to be something really special. But how long has Springsteen been touring? Fifty years? He might be a little more tired of playing “Born to Run” than we are of playing “Neon Moon.”

Current Restart II on Apple Music