Hillbilly Deluxe (CD - 2005)

Personnel: Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow (vocals); J.T. Corenflos (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Dan Dugmore (acoustic guitar, steel guitar); Bryan Sutton (acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin); Terry McBride (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Tom Bukovac, Larry Beaird, Bob DiPiero (acoustic guitar); Kenny Greenberg (electric guitar, National guitar); David Grissom, Troy Lancaster, Brent Mason (electric guitar); Russ Pahl, Scotty Sanders (steel guitar); Larry Franklin, Stuart Duncan (mandolin); Hank Singer (fiddle); Kix Brooks (harmonica, background vocals); Harvey Thompson (tenor saxophone); Jim Horn (baritone saxophone); Steven Herrman (trumpet); Charles Rose (trombone); Reese Wynans, Tony Harrell (piano, keyboards); John Hobbs, Bill Payne (piano); Greg Morrow (drums, percussion); Scott Williamson, Shannon Forrest (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Chip Davis, John Wesley Ryles, Kim Parent, Lisa Cochran, Ronnie Dunn, Wes Hightower, Perry Coleman, Kim Keyes (background vocals).

Additional personnel: Glenn Worf, Michael Rhodes (bass guitar); Eddie Bayers Jr. (drums); Dan Dugmore, Eric Darken, Kenny Greenberg, Stuart Duncan, J.T. Corenflos, Hank Singer, Bryan Sutton.

Audio Mixers: Ronnie Dunn; Jason Gantt; Jeff Kersey; Steve Marcantonio.

Recording information: Cyber Ranch; Emerald Entertainment's Tracking Room; Lobstar Studio; Ocean Way Nashville Recording Studios; Sound Emporium, Nashville, TN; Starstruck Studios; Talent Shop Studios; The Rukkus Room; The Sound Kitchen, Nashville, TN; Tin Ear.

Photographer: Chapman Baehler.

During the first half of the 2000s Brooks & Dunn broadened their horizons, incorporating stronger elements of pop and rock to their neo-traditionalist country. As its title suggests, 2005's Hillbilly Deluxe finds the duo returning to their roots, creating a lean, tight collection of 13 straight-ahead country songs. This may be a reaction to the romanticization of rednecks in recent country music, but Hillbilly Deluxe doesn't sound crass or commercial. It sounds like a logical back-to-basics move after the rock flirtations of 2001's Steers and Stripes and 2003's Red Dirt Road. Brooks & Dunn don't hide their intentions at all: not only does the album boast a proudly hillbilly title, but the album kicks off with the anthemic "Play Something Country," where a redneck woman implores the DJ to play some "Kenny, Keith, Alan, and Patsy Cline," and Brooks & Dunn follow that advice for the rest of the album, never straying far from country, even when they're covering Nicolette Larson's early-'80s hit "Building Bridges" with Sheryl Crow on backing vocals. Most of this direction seems to come from Ronnie Dunn, who provides the great majority of original material here: six of the 13 songs are from Dunn (all but one co-written with Terry McBride), and his tunes are the purest country here, whether it's barroom tales like "Whiskey Do My Talkin'" or weepers like "I May Never Get Over You." That's not to say that Kix Brooks doesn't have a presence here. With the exception of the poppier "One More Roll of the Dice," he also devotes himself to straight-ahead country, highlighted by the sweetly melancholy "Her West Was Wilder" and the rocking closer, "She Likes to Get out of Town." Brooks might not write as much here as he normally does, but the covers he sings are expertly chosen, and the album as a whole gels as well as either Steers and Stripes or Red Dirt Road. Even though Hillbilly Deluxe isn't quite as ambitious as either of those records, it's just as satisfying and further proof that Brooks & Dunn are one of the most reliable, consistently enjoyable acts in modern country music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Thanks to the newfound success of "real" country singers like Gretchen Wilson and Toby Keith, not to mention the neo-outlaw duo Big & Rich, Brooks & Dunn return to their Nashville roots on HILLBILLY DELUXE. After a string of increasingly pop-oriented albums, the change does them good. The first single, "Play Something Country," could be the best jukebox song since Alan Jackson's early-1990s hit "Don't Rock the Jukebox." From that opening track onwards, Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks stick to the basics: broken hearts ("Her West Was Wilder" and "I May Never Get Over You") and broken bottles (on the tough-guy "Whiskey Do My Talkin'" and the celebratory "Just Another Neon Night"). They don't abandon their rock flirtations entirely--Sheryl Crow drops by on "Building Bridges," and the stomping title track edges towards Big & Rich territory --but HILLBILLY DELUXE is the most purely country album Brooks & Dunn have released since 1993's HARD WORKIN' MAN, and it's one of their most entertaining ever. minimize