Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070032
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GENE HARBRECHT ORANGE COUNTY (CALIF.) REGISTER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"It's a birth defect," he said, cackling.
But Dunn's wild appearance, set off by the relatively clean-cut looks of his partner, Kix Brooks, is only one of many ways these singer-songwriters have managed to blend contrasting styles and traits to emerge as the hottest duo in country music since Wynonna and Naomi Judd.
They bring their act to the Roanoke Civic Center Coliseum Saturday. The Tractors and David Ball will open the show.
Consider this: Brooks & Dunn won their third consecutive Country Music Association Award as vocal duo of1994, and they've sold more than 5 million albums with their first two releases, notching seven No.-1 singles in the process.
All that would be enough to make most artists' heads spin, but Dunn says he and Brooks have managed to stay calm amid the commercial fury that envelops them.
"If there's anything that's different about this group, it's that the ego is in the opposite place," Dunn said during a recent telephone interview from Nashville.
"We're probably a couple of the most unpresumptuous people when it comes to the music business. We've been around long enough to know it can turn on you in a second, and no matter how high you are, you could be on the ground in a second."
Dunn's right. He and Brooks have been around for a long time - but not as a duo. In fact, they didn't even know each other five years ago. Both were oil
pipeliners in another life. Brooks has been in Nashville almost 12 years. He worked as a writer for Tree Publishing for many of those. Dunn spent years
playing the club circuit in Oklahoma but went to Nashville after winning a Marlboro Talent Search.
"I was here for about three months when Tim Dubois [of Arista Records] set me up with a publishing deal. And that's when they came up with the bright-eyed
idea of doing a duo, and he called us up and asked us to have lunch together. We kinda felt it out and said, 'OK, we'll do it and see what happens.' And bang, it worked."
The sparks these two make on stage come from the freshest, most energy-intensive honky-tonk anybody in Nashville has played in years. Dunn's clear vocals and Brooks' frenetic stage presence and clanging guitar licks pace an act that provides a balanced blend of excitement and emotion.
Much of the duo's commitment to the songs is because Brooks & Dunn write or co-write most of their material. But touring and other outside demands have
taken a toll on creative time.
"That's the single biggest challenge that we've gotta work on right now," Dunn said. "As things start creeping into our schedules, there's less time to really sit down and write."
Writing is another way in which the two blend their divergent approaches.
"I really enjoy writing by myself, and Kix is very much into the co-writing deal," Dunn said. "He's been here for a while and is into that Nashville groove, which he's comfortable with. I haven't been here long enough to catch onto it. But I think it just boils down to general philosophy."
Dunn also is quick to credit the team at Arista for helping fuel the band's success.
"They're a real good crew, new in the business, young and enthusiastic," he said.
But a climate of oversaturation does exist in Nashville, and Dunn says it's really up to individual acts to ensure their own futures.
"It's just gotten to a point where as an act, you just gotta fight to maintain longevity. [The record companies] say, 'Hey, this guy works. His jeans are starched and he's got little round-toe boots. Let's put a hat on him and get him to sing this poppy country song and make it happen.' They become pop icons overnight, and you see a lot of the older guys around here just freakin' out right now."
Dunn admits he doesn't have much sympathy for the older legends who complain they're being ignored for the younger talent.
"You know what . . . welcome to the music business, man. I'm gonna face that dilemma someday. I'm gonna look back someday and go, 'Good Lord, man, we were successful as all get out,' and it's like five, 10 years from now, maybe a year from now, I can't get a record on the radio. That's going to happen to us all. It's a fact."
Dunn says the apparent friendship on and off stage between him and Brooks is no act, but they aren't copies of each other either.
"I'm pretty much the wild man, out front stirring things up, the first to fly off the handle when something goes wrong. Kix will sit back calmly and play off
that. And I think our egos are to the point where we'll try to one-up each other all the time. So if I'm looking like I'm not level-headed one day, he can act like he is, and vice versa."
Brooks & Dunn Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Roanoke Civic Center. Tickets $22.50. Call 981-2241 or 343-8100. Shuttle buses will make round trips from the Williamson Road parking garage before (starting at 6:30 p.m.) and after the show. Mark Morrison's review will appear in Monday's Extra.
by CNB