The Greatest Oldies Music

Country

Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn had each spent more than a decade trying to make a solo career work when Tim DuBois invited them to lunch in 1990. The Arista Nashville chief had a suggestion: try making music together. Neither man had been looking for a partner. Brooks was a songwriter who’d also made solo records. Dunn had sung with bands, released independent recordings and won a talent competition before moving to Nashville. DuBois heard something in the two of them that he thought would work as a duo. They were hesitant, but agreed to give it a chance. The result was *Brand New Man*. Its first four singles—“Brand New Man,” “My Next Broken Heart,” “Neon Moon” and “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”—all reached No. 1. The album sold millions of copies, and “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” helped send people onto dance floors across the country. Within a year, two singers who’d struggled separately were becoming familiar voices on country radio. Their records put honky-tonk rhythms alongside loud guitars, and their shows brought that sound into arenas. Brooks & Dunn eventually became country music’s best-selling duo. By then, it was easy to hear why they belonged together. That hadn’t been obvious to either of them at lunch. They’d arrived with years of work behind them, each still trying to find a way forward on his own. DuBois asked them to try a partnership, and they stayed long enough to find out what it could sound like.

BROOKS & DUNN WERE TWO STALLED SOLO CAREERS—UNTIL ONE LUNCH CHANGED 1990s COUNTRY

Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn did not grow up planning to become a famous country duo.

By 1990, both had already spent years trying to make separate careers work.

Then Arista Nashville chief Tim DuBois sat them down over lunch and suggested something neither man had been chasing:

work together.

Both Men Had Already Tried the Solo Route

Brooks had built a reputation in Nashville as a songwriter and solo artist.

Dunn had fronted bands, released independent records and won a talent competition before making his own move toward Nashville.

Neither man was a complete unknown.

But neither had broken through the way DuBois believed they could.

He saw something in the combination.

Brooks brought writing instincts, stage energy and personality.

Dunn brought one of the strongest voices in contemporary  country.

DuBois believed the strengths of one might cover the weaknesses of the other.

The two singers were not immediately convinced.

They agreed to try it anyway.

The Experiment Became Brand New Man

What followed was not a slow build.

Their debut album, Brand New Man, arrived in 1991 and produced an extraordinary opening run.

“Brand New Man” went to No. 1.

So did “My Next Broken Heart.”

Then “Neon Moon.”

Then “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.”

Four consecutive chart-toppers turned a tentative partnership into one of the fastest breakthroughs of the era.

Within a year, the two men who had struggled separately were suddenly defining the sound of mainstream country together.

“Boot Scootin’ Boogie” Became Bigger Than a Hit

The song did more than climb the chart.

It helped push line dancing into bars, clubs and dance halls far beyond the traditional country audience.

At the same time, Brooks & Dunn were building a larger sound around honky-tonk foundations.

Rock guitars got louder.

Drums got bigger.

The stage presentation became more arena-sized.

Their  music still carried country rhythms and imagery, but the scale had changed.

They Helped Build the Sound of the Decade

Brooks & Dunn became central to the high-energy “power country” style that dominated much of the 1990s.

The records were designed to work in honky-tonks and giant venues at the same time.

That balance helped make them one of  country music’s most successful acts and, eventually, its best-selling duo.

But none of that had been obvious at the beginning.

There was no childhood harmony.

No family act.

No long-standing dream of singing side by side.

The Partnership Came Before the Mythology

That may be the best part of the story.

Brooks & Dunn did not begin because two musicians had spent their lives waiting to find each other.

They began because one record executive looked at two careers that had not quite worked and saw a combination neither singer could fully see yet.

Tim DuBois suggested lunch.

Brooks and Dunn agreed to experiment.

Then four straight No. 1 singles turned the experiment into a career.

Sometimes the defining partnership is not the one you spend years planning.

It is the one someone else recognizes before you do.

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