The inspiration for the title of Brooks & Dunn’s new album, Tight Rope, came from the rodeo, not the circus. "To a cowboy, a ‘tight rope’ is real tension," Kix Brooks explains. "It’s a dangerous kind of thing when horses get on either side of a steer and somebody’s fixin’ to get his hand tore off!" "But really," Ronnie Dunn says, "‘tight rope’ has lots of meanings." "Right," Brooks agrees.
Taken literally, "tight rope" could evoke the image of two exciting performers attempting a dangerous high wire crossing together as the crowd below holds its collective breath. Taken figuratively, "tight rope" could make us think of artists taking a bold chance and ultimately finding beauty and balance. Did Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn have all these images in mind when they named their new record? Maybe. But mostly, we suspect, it was a cowboy thing.
Recording their 6th studio album may not have been as dangerous as bulldogging or bull riding. Nonetheless, Brooks & Dunn, the top-selling country duo of all-time, took a risk with Tight Rope. Without abandoning their trademark sound, they’ve experimented by making their most progressive record yet. "It’s something completely different than what we’ve done in the past," says Dunn. "I’m totally pumped about it."
No doubt, Brooks & Dunn’s confidence to expand musically on Tight Rope grew out of their repeated chart successes over the course of their career. The studio sessions for the new record followed an especially inspiring year when the duo added several new chart-toppers from their If You See Her disc to their string of hits: "If You See Him/If You See Her," the duet with Reba (#1), "How Long Gone," (#1), "Husbands & Wives," (#1) and "I Can’t Get Over You" (Top 5).
Success, though, can be a mixed blessing. With it comes a high expectation from fans and critics to top your latest effort. But Brooks & Dunn say they’ll take that kind of pressure over the anxiety they felt as a new duo bursting onto the country scene almost a decade ago.
"All the pressures that we’d worried about coming up, we don’t feel as chained to these days," Dunn says. "Our touring schedule is not as rough by choice and it gives us a little more time. We’ve been working on writing this record as hard as any one we’ve been involved in. We kind of just rekindled the fire. But we’ve been doing it long enough we’re starting to relax and have fun with it. Which is good…you have to."
"Cutting tracks is really fun," Brooks adds. "but songwriting can be so tedious. It’s very gratifying when you’re finished. But I dread the process. It’s like a big exam hanging over your head. To me, the real joy is when you finish writing a song. THAT is where the excitement is."
"I think the fun part is watching the songs that you write come to life in the studio," Dunn says. "We wrote every song but one. Watching them come to life...that’s a blast! You work two years on a record. Finally getting it down is like taking off in a plane and heading for the moon."
After Tight Rope was finished, he couldn’t wait to hear the first single on the radio. "I wanted to see how the songs sounded technically," Dunn says. "To see how they held up." Part of his excitement about the technical aspect of the songs on Tight Rope is the addition to the production team of producer Byron Gallimore, who has lately distinguished himself for his work with Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Jo Dee Messina. Dunn thought bringing Gallimore aboard would "stir up the pot a bit."
"I went to Byron to get a more progressive, technical edge," Dunn says. "Kind of like stepping into a little bit of a faster car. He brings an edge to what he does, but more than anything, he brings a new-sounding instrumentation to the songs." In addition to Gallimore, Brooks & Dunn assembled a crew of their most inspiring songwriting partners and producers to create the new record. Don Cook, who has been a Brooks & Dunn producer, co-songwriter and vital collaborator since the beginning, returned to his place at the board. As co-producers themselves, Brooks & Dunn oversaw the details of every cut.
Of the 13 songs on the album, six bear Brooks’ imprint and six Dunn’s. Their co-writers are Terry McBride, Bob DiPiero, Tom Shapiro, Chris Waters, Lewis Anderson and Don Cook. The odd song out is a soulful country remake of "Missing You," John Waite’s 1984 hit. Including that song was Dunn’s idea, who says, "It’s always been one of my favorites." Work on this album - Brooks & Dunn’s sixth (seventh including The Greatest Hits Collection), began in March and concluded in July.
Most of the songs were written on the road during their two-year joint tour with Reba. The two partners routinely invite fellow writers to join them on their buses for work sessions. "It’s pretty much the productive way for me to go--and Ronnie too, I think," says Brooks. "When we’re home, our families have missed us and we’ve missed them. After you’ve been out working all week on the road, it’s hard to come home just to start working again."
Both Brooks & Dunn frequently work on songs after performing shows. They often work long into the night. "Hurt Train," co-written by Ronnie Dunn and Terry McBride, was written after the tour bus passed a train traveling through California at 3:30 in the morning. "When the inspiration hits," Dunn says, "you’ve got to roll with it."
Kix Brooks says he not only works after shows, he often works during the shows. "On the last tour with Reba," he says, "we’d have a break while she was performing, then come back and do the encore. If we’d come off stage, I’d go work on a song before we went back out. You’re kind of geared up. You’ve got to sit there for an hour and do something."
It seems Brooks & Dunn have found a way to be productive while challenging themselves and each other musically. "I just take it one song at a time," says Dunn. "Yeah, I do too," says Brooks. "But after we’ve gotten a good batch of songs together, we always comment on each other’s material. We try to be honest without hurting each other’s feelings. We’ve been together long enough and there’s enough at stake that we try to let each other know how we feel."
The product of their labor, Tight Rope, is a remarkably broad and unified collection of songs about love in all its phases. Laments for relationships gone wrong – "Goin’ Under Gettin’ Over You," "Hurt Train," "Can’t Stop My Heart," "Too Far This Time," "All Out Of Love" and "The Trouble With Angels" – find their emotional antidote in such high-spirited party-time roars as "Temptation #9" and "Beer Thirty." "You’ll Always Be Loved By Me" is a towering proclamation of devotion, while "I Love You More" is an alternately subdued and intense pitch for constancy over momentary passion. "Don’t Look Back Now" gently but firmly encouraged the facing of hard reality. "Texas and Norma Jean" is a tender story of how a chance encounter changes everything that follows.
"We are a little older," says Dunn, "and the emotional well to draw from is deeper. But we still can’t resist adding a kick-ass song here and there."
During Fan Fair week this past July, Brooks & Dunn held a fan club party at the Ryman Auditorium. From the stage, Dunn told a story about sharing a dressing room with Glen Campbell during an awards show a few years ago. "I was so nervous," Dunn said. "There he was – Glen Campbell, bigger than life. We got to talking about songs. He said, ‘I like all your songs except that one thing...that Boot...whatever Scoot.’ He said, ‘Can you imagine singing that in your 40’s?’"
The fans at the party roared with laughter as the forty-something Dunn slapped his knee while his equally forty-something partner chuckled and shook his head. Brooks & Dunn’s ability to laugh at themselves and, yes, still sing "Boot Scootin’ Boogie," along with a new party song, "Beer Thirty," coupled with mature songs such as "Don’t Look Back Now" and "All Out of Love," shines the spotlight on a vibrant duo with true staying power.
The Arista/Nashville duo’s landmark career achievements include "Entertainer of the Year" for both the Country Music Association (1996) and the Academy of Country Music (1995 and 1996). They have received "Duo of the Year" honors from the CMA for the past 8 consecutive years, and duo nods from the ACM for 7 consecutive years. Collectively, the Brooks & Dunn discography accounts for just under 21 million records sold. With 1 Quintuple-Platinum, 2 Quadruple-Platinum, 3 Triple-Platinum, 5 Double-Platinum and 6 Platinum RIAA Certified albums to their credit, the duo’s debut album entitled "Brand New Man" is just shy of 6 million units sold. Their trail of hits includes 17 Number 1’s and 26 Top 10’s.
Brooks & Dunn are consistently among the top draws on the concert circuit; in fact, their 1997 tour, which they co-headlined with Reba, broke all previous highest-grossing country tour records. The duo is currently in the throes of their Coors Light Tailgate Tour, which is taking them away from arenas and back outside to fairs and festivals. "I’m having such a good time playing music right now," says Brooks. "The band’s playing good. The crowds have been really rocking. It’s good to get back outdoors and raise a little hell." The only drawback of playing outdoor venues: Both guys suffer from allergies. They both adapt by washing down antihistamines with Coke before going onstage. "A poor man’s speedball," jokes Dunn.
During breaks in the tour, the duo returns to Nashville and embraces their lives at home.
Brooks, along with his wife Barbara, is heavily involved in horse breeding and showing horses. He is also a dad who keeps his promises. Recently, after returning home late after a show in upstate New York, he rose early to take his 13-year-old daughter Molly to her first day of school…on the back of his Harley-Davidson. "It was important for her to be cool on the first day of school," he says.
Dunn, who along with his wife Janine, has been renovating a Nashville home for two years now, often spends his time at home updating his collection of art. Dunn may be filling up the space of a partially empty nest – his oldest daughter Whitney just left home to start college. Their home is currently filled with a new sampling of colorful, contemporary Russian art. Complementing the Russian paintings is an enormous moose head and big horn sheep Dunn found this summer in Ft. Worth, Texas and couldn’t resist bringing home in the luggage compartment of his bus.
It’s never long before Brooks & Dunn are back on the road again. This month they will add the new single from Tight Rope, "Missing You" to their concert set list. "I can’t wait to start playing it," Brooks says. "To me, it’s fun to play stuff when people recognize it. To look out there and see them singing along...there’s nothing like it."
The record flows like a concert, kicking off with high-energy, then dipping into one soulful ballad after another. With this record, the duo who gave us "Rock My World" and "Boot Scootin’ Boogie" may become as well known for their heart-tugging tunes as for those that make folks get up and dance
