Brooks And Dunn: ‘Reboot II’ Has A Packed Guest List

Country music duo Brooks and Dunn recently released Reboot II, an album that reimagined their beloved songs with some of the music industry's hottest stars. Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks are joining Kelly Ford as co-hosts on Backstage Country for the week of November 18-22 where they will discuss the songs from their album.  

Dunn shared their experience recording with Lainey Wilson for “Play Something Country” and how she "owned" the song. Dunn said, “She took it up a couple of keys, which made me have to work a little harder to keep up with her. But other than that, I love, love the concept of it, period.” Brooks agreed, “Yeah, she just came in and fired up, so we just fired up the track.”  The duo also remembered when Wilson came in to the studio for the session. Dunn said she was wearing these flame shirts and bellbottoms. Brooks joked Wilson cut up several of his shirts to make her trousers.

Ford mentioned that of all the songs in the album, Morgan Wallen’s “Neon Moon” was the most straightforward 1. Dunn agreed, “Yeah, which follows the format of Reboot where everyone kept everything between the lines. I didn't follow the original version but Reboot II is all about breaking the rules and no holds barred. You go in as we interpret the song and what you want to do [with] it.” He added, “We all just get a little creative and make this stuff up as we go with an unbelievable studio band.”  

Brooks also shared how "Neon Moon" on Reboot is different than it is on Reboot II. "It is interesting, though, that of all the tracks, 'Neon Moon' was on the first reboot album by Kacey Musgraves. It was probably the furthest from the original. And then Morgan turns around and takes 'Neon Moon,' very similar back to the same kind of approach that we had on the first one. But it's got a little more Cha-Cha to it, got a cool acoustic guitar in the middle, takes it a little Mexicali."

Dunn told Ford how the collaboration with Megan Moroney happened. “Megan had been with us from a couple of years back. She comes off at first, as shy with a cute voice and is a good writer.” He continued, “And we walked in the studio, she's sitting at the piano and she has this concept for 'Ain't Nothing ‘Bout You,' which was an up-tempo like six-week number one song in the day, kind of a rocker by our standards. And she's turned it into this sultry, sexy, ‘beat up for three days smoking on Filter Campbell's cigarette.’”  

Ford admitted Mitchell Tenpenny’s reimagining of “Ain’t No Way To Go” is something she didn’t expect. Brooks said, “You know we haven't performed it that much live or anything, but fans, I guess, keep gravitating to that song. So, we pull it out every now and then.” Dunn added, “That’s really the coolest thing of this whole project. Just listening to these songs repurposed.” Ford also pointed out that it was a timeless song and that it could have come from any era. Dunn agreed, "That's really the coolest thing of this whole project. Just listening to these songs re-repurposed and as a country band, you know, they can go anywhere."

Download Reboot II by Brooks and Dunn’s here and listen to their iconic songs reimagined by artists like Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wallen, Megan Moroney, and Mitchell Tenpenny among others.