Red Dirt Road

Performer: Brooks & Dunn
Artist: Jerry Douglas; Aubrey Haynie; Dan Tyminski; Bryan Sutton
Engineer: Greg Droman
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Brooks & Dunn: Ronnie Dunn (vocals, guitar, tambourine); Kix Brooks (vocals, guitar). Additional personnel includes: Kenny Greenbery (acoustic & electric guitars); Bryan Sutton (acoustic guitar, National slide guitar, banjo, mandolin); Dan Dugmore (acoustic guitar, dobro); Nick Casstevens, B. James Lowry (acoustic guitar); Pat Buchanon, J.T. Corenflas, John Jorgenson, Brent Mason, Lou Toomey (electric guitar); Jerry Douglas (dobro); Bill Kenner (mandola); Aubrey Haynie (fiddle); Jim Hoke (harmonica, accordion); Jeff Coffin, Jim Horn, Samuel Levine, Steve Patrick (horns); Steve Nathan (piano, Wurlitzer piano, keyboards, Hammond B-3 organ, organ, mellotron); Clayton Ivey (piano); Michael Rhodes, Glenn Worf (bass); Shannon Forrest (drums); Mark Wright (tambourine); Erick Darken (percussion); Robert Bailey, Bekka Bramlett, Perry Coleman, Vicki Hampton, Dan Tyminski(background vocals). Producers: Kix Brooks, Ronnie Dunn, Mark Wright. "Red Dirt Road" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. That Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn have rediscovered their roots is obvious from the first chords of RED DIRT ROAD's opening track "You Can't Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl." It's down-home country with a little bit of rock & roll, a refreshing lack of Nashville gloss, and an exuberant chorus (one of the background vocalists is Bekka Bramlett, daughter of Delanie & Bonnie, and the album resurrects some of that duo's Southern spirit). The title track is a classic; all the timeless country elements are here--a bit of religion, a bit of mayhem, and a hearty dose of unapologetic sentimentality, blended together with the duo's trademark harmonies and an impeccable country-rock beat. The regretful, gospel-tinged "I Used to Know This Song By Heart" tugs at the heartstrings, while "When We Were Kings" borrows from Bruce Springsteen in its conjuring of greasy, rebellious, gloriously misspent youth. A healthy lack of studio trickery and back-to-basics instrumentation highlights Brooks & Dunn's ready way with a lyric and provides an intimate backdrop to RED DIRT ROAD's classy country.

Rolling Stone (9/4/03, p.138) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Nobody in Nashville has a truer, fuller tenor than Dunn; he excels here, amid vivid arrangements that emphasize the band's roots..." Entertainment Weekly (07/18/03, pp.73-4) - "...For RED DIRT ROAD, [Brooks & Dunn dig] deeper, using autobiography, the musical influences of their teens, and energized roots-rock production..." - Rating: A-

One of the most successful duos in country music history, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn were put together in the early 1990s by former Arista Nashville label boss Tim DuBois, who thought the two singer-songwriters' styles would complement each other. The duo's sound--a mix of country harmonies, pop, rock and honky-tonk--made them superstars in the '90s, where they dominated the Vocal Duo category at every awards show. After two decades of success, both with the critics and on the charts, the duo broke up in 2009.

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