#TST: Brooks & Dunn

Time again for Two Step Tuesday!

Today’s music comes from not one, but two. That’s right, a country musical duo. Their hit Boot Scootin Boogie was the inspiration behind my closing graphic for this theme.

Wikipedia tells us this about Brooks & Dunn:

Brooks & Dunn is an American country music duo consisting of musicians and songwriters Kix Brooks (vocals, guitar, harmonica), and Ronnie Dunn (vocals, guitar, tambourine). The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before the foundation, both members were solo recording artists. Both members charted two solo singles apiece in the 1980s, with Brooks also releasing an album for Capitol Records in 1989 and writing hit singles for other artists.

Founded in 1991, the duo signed to Arista Nashville that year. They have recorded eleven studio albums and five compilation albums for the label. They also have released 50 singles, of which 20 went to No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs charts and 19 more reached Top 10. Two of these No. 1 songs, "My Maria" (a cover of the B.W. Stevenson song) and "Ain't Nothing 'bout You", were the top country songs of 1996 and 2001, respectively, according to the Billboard Year-End charts. The latter is also the duo's longest-lasting No 1 single on that chart at six weeks. Several of their songs have also reached the Billboard Hot 100, with the No. 25 peaks of "Ain't Nothing 'bout You" and "Red Dirt Road" being their highest there. Brooks & Dunn also won the Country Music Association Vocal Duo of the Year award every year between 1992 and 2006, except for 2000. Two of their songs won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: "Hard Workin' Man" in 1994 and "My Maria" in 1996. All but two of the duo's studio albums are certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America; their highest-certified is their 1991 debut album, Brand New Man, which is certified sextuple-platinum for shipments of six million copies.

The duo's material is known for containing influences of honky-tonk, mainstream country, and rock, as well as the contrast between Brooks' and Dunn's singing voices and on-stage personalities, although some of their music has also been criticized as formulaic. Their 1992 single "Boot Scootin' Boogie" helped re-popularize line dancing in the United States, and 2001's "Only in America" was used by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama in their respective presidential campaigns. Brooks & Dunn has collaborated with several artists, including Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Mac Powell, Billy Gibbons, and Jerry Jeff Walker among others.

After announcing their retirement in August 2009, they performed their final concert on September 2, 2010, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Both Brooks and Dunn have continued to record for Arista Nashville as solo artists. Dunn released a self-titled album in 2011, which included the Top 10 country hit "Bleed Red", while Brooks released New to This Town in September 2012. The duo reunited in 2015 for a series of concerts with Reba McEntire in Las Vegas. In 2019, the duo was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

They appeared with two songs on the soundtrack of Everyone's Hero, Kix Brooks lead vocals on Keep On Swinging and Ronnie Dunn lead vocals on Swing It.


Today’s Two Steppin’ Playlist: (These are all #1 Hits)

1. Neon Moon
2. Red Dirt Road
3. She’s Not The Cheatin’ Kind
4. Boot Scootin' Boogie
5. My Maria
6. A Man This Lonely
7. How Long Gone
8. It’s Getting Better All The Time
9. She Used To Be Mine
10. Little Miss Honky Tonk

See you again soon! Share with me your thoughts about this playlist.  If you have a favorite country artist, let me know and I’d be happy to feature them.