Hillbilly Deluxe

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, 2005, 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 "She Likes to 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 Going to Let Her Get."

"With Red Dirt Road, I think we started heading back to what got us here... meaning our 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."

"Boot Scootin' Boogie" zoomed Brooks & Dunn to the top of the country line-dance craze in 1992, and one could hardly blame them for riding the crest, even if it left them in a rut of shallow, preening dance ditties. They began showing greater depth in the late '90s, with albums like If You See Her and Steers and Stripes. While Hillbilly Deluxe is musically consistent, Tony Brown's production sharp and focused throughout, the themes here revert to the same old same old: empty, shallow stompers with lyrics that occasionally sound dated. "Play Something Country," another Ronnie Dunn collaboration with Terry McBride, duly name-drops current Nashville stars as well as P. Diddy and Patsy Cline. Things don't improve with the blustery "She Likes to Get Out of Town"; "Just Another Neon Night," with its painfully clichéd line "turn off that rap, boys, play me some Haggard"; or "Building Bridges," a "vocal event" with superfluous input from Vince Gill and Sheryl Crow. Only the moving story-song "Believe," brimming with heart and honesty, reminds of their potential when they think beyond the boot. --Rich Kienzle