Brooks & Dunn have done it again. The iconic Country duo has welcomed a new generation of music fans to their timeless classics with, REBOOT 2, a sequel to their highly-popular album from 2019, REBOOT.
LISTEN NOW: Brooks & Dunn detail Reboot 2, available now
The project, available now, follows the same format as the 2019 release with several of today’s biggest Country stars joining the duo for reimagined versions of their most iconic songs. They include Lainey Wilson (“Play Something Country”), Morgan Wallen (“Neon Moon”), Ernest (“Indian Summer”).
“Lainey Wilson comes rolling in the room fired up,” Kix Brooks said, reflecting on their recording time with Wilson. “She had a flame shirt on, she had flame bell bottoms. She jumped in the vocal booth and she just ripped… Sounded like a ZZ Top version with Lainey singing. It was really cool.”
While many of the 18 tracks featured are big, B&D hits, some of the artists surprised the duo by selecting deeper cuts. For example, former tour mate, Ernest, who selected, “Indian Summer.” “He surprised us and picked, ‘Indian Summer’,” shared Ronnie Dunn. “This was really fun to do… He ran up on the bus and was like, ‘Man! We just cut ‘Indian Summer’’ he says, ‘We put some George Strait on it!’” Dunn laughed.
Ernest wasn’t the only one who kept things classic to the Country genre, Morgan Wallen also stayed near the Country sound on the track he recorded, “Neon Moon.”
“Bingo!” Ronnie said of getting Morgan on the project. “They put kind of a Mexi-Cali slant to it, which it’s always wanted to kind of do anyways. I think you’ll be surprised by it. A really great performance by Morgan — but again, that’s what you expect from Morgan right now, right?”
While many of the artists kept things more traditional, the guys decided to take things up a notch this time around and also welcome out-of-genre artists for collaborations which include Halestorm (“Boot Scootin’ Boogie”) and Christone "Kingfish" Ingram (“Hard Workin’ Man”). By bringing in out-of-genre artists, the duo hoped to really shake-things up, and that’s exactly what they did.
“The premise of the project was ‘No rules,’” Ronnie Dunn explained. “For this one, we purposely loosened the screws and turned ‘em loose to do whatever they wanted. We actually went way off the rails, in a good way.”
A great example is the Rock vibe brought to “Boot Scootin’ Boogie by Hale storm. “Their drummer had green hair, don’t care!” Laughed Ronnie. “Lzzy Hale, when she started singing it was a bit of a surprise. She sang so hard, with such growl and grit in her voice that you’d think she’d be done for a week after [but] she goes, ‘I could do it all day’”
Hear additional details about the collaborations, recordings and so much more above and check out the entire track list below.
REBOOT 2 Track List:
1. “Play Something Country” with Lainey Wilson
2. “Neon Moon” with Morgan Wallen
3. “Rock My World (Little Country Girl)” with Marcus King Band
4. “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” with Megan Moroney
5. “Brand New Man” with Warren Zeiders
6. “Believe” with Jelly Roll
7. “She Used to Be Mine” with Riley Green
8. “She Likes to Get Out of Town” with The Cadillac Three
9. “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” with Halestorm
10. “Ain’t No Way To Go” with Mitchell Tenpenny
11. “How Long Gone” with The Earls of Leicester
12. “I’ll Never Forgive My Heart” with Jake Worthington
13. “She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind” with Hailey Whitters
14. “Hard Workin’ Man” with Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
15. “Hillbilly Deluxe” with HARDY
16. “Indian Summer” with ERNEST
17. “Drop in the Bucket” with Thousand Horses
18. “Only In America” with Corey Kent