HILLBILLY
DELUXE
An all-star lineup cranks out the hits to help the Academy honor beloved duo Brooks & Dunn
By Lisa Lee
When you're
a huge fan of a duo that has sold more than 30 million albums and racked up 23
No. 1 singles, how in the world do you narrow it down to your favorite song?
That was the
million dollar question for the all-star lineup gathered to honor Brooks &
Dunn in Las Vegas on April 19th. The MGM Grand Garden Arena was
packed for the taping of ACM Presents:
Brooks & Dunn-The Last Rodeo, an amazing tribute concert that aired Sunday,
May 23rd on CBS. The show recognizes the duo's
contributions to country music history as they call it quits after 20 years
together.
"It's
daunting singing a Ronnie Dunn song to begin with, I think everyone here
tonight will tell you that," said Keith Urban when asked about performing
"Brand New Man," Brooks & Dunn's first No. 1 single. "That record for me
just came flying out of the radio and I was instantly a fan. The two of them
together live is just something else."
Urban kicked
off a night full of great music and laughter, as 16 acts paid tribute to Brooks
& Dunn and their amazing legacy. Kix and Ronnie took a seat of honor stage
left, perching on a road case to watch their friends offer up their own
versions of B&D classics. George Strait tackled the Brooks & Dunn
staple "Boot Scootin' Boogie," which Strait told the crowd "started the biggest
line dance craze in America."
"A duo like that doesn't come along very often," Strait told
ACM Tempo backstage. "They got
brought together for a reason and just made some great music over the years and
their music is going to last forever. I
mean they're icons."
Carrie
Underwood recalled stealing her older sister's Brooks & Dunn album and
making up dances to the songs. She chose the honky-tonk weeper "Neon Moon"
because she said she'd be performing it since she was about 8 years old.
"They were there when I was discovering country music and
kind of growing a love for country music," Underwood explained backstage. "They
are people that we can model our careers after, and they're genuinely nice
people and have talent in spades. They can keep going for another 20 years if
they so desired to."
Sugarland
also put their own spin on the poignant "Red Dirt Road," stripping the song
down to just Jennifer Nettles on piano and Kristian Bush on guitar. The pair
traded emotional vocals that brought a new light to the tune written by Kix and
Ronnie.
"I think it has resonance with us for a number of reasons,"
Nettles said. "I mean one, they wrote it themselves as a duo, and we write our
material ourselves as a duo. So that
felt special."
Reba
McEntire, a longtime tourmate and buddy of both Kix and Ronnie, did double
duty, performing "Indian Summer" and also joining Ronnie and Lady Antebellum
onstage for "If you See Him, If You See Her." Lady A's Hillary Scott, whose
parents toured with Reba for years, recalled sitting on a road case and
watching Reba, Ronnie and Kix perform that song every night. She said it was an
amazing moment to perform the song with them both.
Also
delivering powerful performances were Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson, Tim
McGraw, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Carrie
Underwood, Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley.
"You could rely on
them at any given time to turn on the radio and hear a fantastic song with
their sound," Paisley said. "It's just an enormous void that we probably can't
expect a duo to ever achieve what they've achieved again. I just don't know if that's possible today in
the fickle state of popular culture, but it's great that they got to do that
and we're all in their debt."
Faith Hill,
who performed "The Long Goodbye," also gave testament to the duo's reputation
for pulling practical jokes on their opening acts. Hill recalled being on the
road and pulling back the sheets on her tour bus bunk to find a defrosting eel
in her sheets courtesy of Kix and Ronnie. At the MGM Grand she returned the
favor after her performance, sending ushers out to the stage with pieces of eel
sushi in a box.
"It's great to watch the show because we are honoring two of
the most wonderful people in this business and
two people that have contributed so much to the fabric of this music for
the last 20 something years, but the songs alone are just incredible," said
Hill of the tribute special.
It was
McEntire who had the honor of presenting Kix and Ronnie with their custom-designed
trophies for the ACM Milestone Award, which recognized Brooks & Dunn as the
top ACM Award winners in Academy history. Since their first win for 1991, the
duo has taken home a total of 27 awards, including their latest as this year's
Top Vocal Duo at the 45th ACM
Awards.
"They're teaching other people who are coming up behind them
how to treat their fans and how to be loyal to their fans," said McEntire.
"There's a lot all of us can learn from Brooks & Dunn."
In fact, many of the acts on the show cited Brooks &
Dunn for giving them their first shot at a major tour.
"They're one of the first ones that put us on tour back in
'03, and it changed our lives," said Rascal Flatts' Joe Don Rooney. "They are
two guys that have never been afraid to share their success, and they put tons
of different artists on tour with them every time they put a tour
together. We were one of the fortunate
bands to get to go out with them in 2003 and it really opened up a huge, huge
door for us."
Backstage after the show, the pair admitted it was hard to
process their amazing run and the love and support they received during the
tribute taping.
"It was really special, very cool," Kix said. "Humbling
sounds like a real trite word, but for people to think enough of the music you
made and to take time out of their lives to do this when they are ready to go
home after the ACM awards, it's a big deal."
View our photo gallery from the special night HERE.
*Copies of the show are not available for purchase at this time.*