Borrowing a title Dwight Yoakam used on his sophomore album, Brooks & Dunn are readying the release of their newest set, “Hillbilly Deluxe.” Produced by Tony Brown (Steve Earle, George Strait), the album is due Aug. 30 via Arista Nashville and is described as a somewhat ragged affair for the star country duo of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn.
Originally thought to be titled after lead single “Play Something Country,” the album is also coming a week earlier than its original Sept. 6 release date.
“You never wanna rest on what you’ve done,” Dunn says. “If you’re gonna play country, you wanna strip away a lot of the stuff, get down to the heart of the matter — and find songs that dig a little deeper into the way these folks live their lives. I mean, ‘Hillbilly Deluxe’ is it: It’s about how it really is, not the way the media paints it — that notion of taking the life as far out as we know these good ole boys and girls do.”
In addition to “Play Something Country,” which is No. 13 in its sixth week on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, “Hillbilly Deluxe” will include the cuts “She Likes to Get Out of Town,” “She’s About as Lonely as I’m Going to Let Her Get,” “Believe,” “Again,” “Whiskey Do My Talkin'” and “Building Bridges,” the latter featuring Sheryl Crow and Vince Gill on vocals.
Brooks says the follow-up to 2003’s “Red Dirt Road” furthers the duo down a path to their musical influences. “The Stones, Jones, Haggard, Tom Petty, a nod even to Rod Stewart’s folkie stuff, the soul that made soul music, but came out of the churches,” he says. “It may be the broadest record we’ve ever done — and it sure was fun.”
“Red Dirt Road” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and No. 4 on The Billboard 200. The set has sold more than 1 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
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