Brooks & Dunn's Reboot II album came out last November. The star-studded, 18-track project features some of their biggest hits, paired with some of today's biggest stars, like Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll and more. But now, both Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks reveal that the record might not have happened, if not for two other singers, who inspired them to release the record, albeit unintentionally.
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"I give Luke Combs and Kacey [Musgraves] kudos for kind of getting this stirred up a little bit," Brooks says on Audacy's Rob + Holly. "Luke was doing 'Brand New Man' at his show and he just wanted to do it like we did it... he liked the song and like playing it like that."
"Kacey, she took real liberties with 'Neon Moon,' obviously doing her crazy thing on that which we thought was really cool too," he adds.
Not only did Musgraves help inspire Reboot II, but Dunn says the record likely wouldn't have happened without her influence.
"That was probably the primary catalyst for doing what we did with Reboot II, is what Kacey Musgraves did with 'Neon Moon.,'" Dunn reveals.
Reboot II Creation
Reboot II includes big hits like "Play Something Country," "Brand New Man," "Believe," "That Ain't No Way To Go" and more. But it wasn't just country artists Brooks & Dunn invited to join them on the album. The duo wasn't afraid to cross genre lines, inviting rock band Halestorm to join them on "Boot Scootin' Boogie."
"We let them know coming in — there's no rules," Dunn recalls.
"I looked at Ronnie and was like 'You gotta go toe to toe with her, man,'" Brooks adds with a laugh. "And he did!"
Both Brooks & Dunn admit it was sometimes a challenge to see other artists interpret their songs in a much different way than they once did. Still, the end result is something they are both immensely proud of, even if it didn't seem like it always made sense.
"With huge departures, you do have to step back and scratch your head a little like, 'OK, how do we participate? How do we honor their vision too?" Brooks says. "[Halestorm's] Lizzy Hale and her brother have been headbanging with their band for 20 years — it's not like they don't know what they're doing. They're a really good freaking rock band."
