I’m under no impression that Brooks & Dunn is some lost duo from the ’90s but I want everyone to stop and think for a second about just how crazy it is that Brand New Man was their first ever release…
Brooks & Dunn was formed in 1990 but both members, Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks, were solo artists before teaming up. Dunn charted two minor singles, “It’s Written All Over Your Face” in 1983 and “She Put the Sad in All His Songs” in 1984, while Brooks released a solo single titled “Baby, When Your Heart Breaks Down” in 1983 before returned to his original Nashville job of songwriting.
He would co-write “Modern Day Romance” for Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which became their second number one before again trying a solo artist career, releasing a self-titled album that featured “Sacred Ground,” a song that eventually went number two for McBride & the Ride.
As we know, their middling careers were soon to change and the credit for their connection goes to Arista Records head Tim DuBois. According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, DuBois brought them together over lunch and got them to agree to write together and try out a partnership. It went well enough that he offered both a record deal and they signed, hesitantly, with Arista Records.
Pretty straight forward so far, right? Two guys with dreams of making it big are scraping and clawing in Nashville, get noticed by someone in the industry, and offered a chance, I mean it’s what everyone hopes for right? Well, I don’t think any of them were prepared for just how well this partnership was going to go.
Brooks & Dunn released their debut single in June of 1991 and it’s one you may be familiar with… “Brand New Man” exploded onto the scene and just a few months later was sitting at number one on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, making them only the second country music group (at the time) to have their debut single top the charts (Diamond Rio became the first just three months earlier with “Meet In The Middle”). It would go on to spend a total of 20 weeks on the chart, be certified Platinum by RIAA, and become one of the defining songs of ’90s country music, certainly qualifying it as one of, if not the, most successful debut singles of all-time.
If the story ended there it would already be historic but the album that followed took things to a new level. Brand New Man featured three additional songs that went number one consecutively (“Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” “My Next Broken Heart,” and “Neon Moon”), which is astounding considering pretty much no one knew either guy just a few months earlier. The album became certified 7x Platinum by RIAA and spent an astounding total of 280 weeks (just under 5.5 years) on the Top Country Albums chart.
Let’s zoom out and try to take all this in with fresh eyes.
Isn’t it absolutely wild that these guys were practically nothing, came together on the whim of some record executive, and burst out of the gate with an iconic song that no doubt altered country music forever? Then, is it not even more outrageous that they followed up with two other genre and era defining songs that are still hugely popular today, 33 years after their release? How about the fact that they maintained their success for the next few decades, to this day are still a top of bill act with a total of 20 number ones under their belt? Who does that? How is it even possible?
We’ve seen first hand how an artist can absolutely explode onto the scene (Oliver Anthony) and also just how hard it is for that artist to remain relevant. The fact that Brooks and Dunn came out swinging like they did and maintained their success (and quality of music) for decades is something we need to appreciate more and maybe something that needs to be studied by country music historians.
Here’s to Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn. So excited for Reboot 2.