Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn have done it again. Hillbilly Deluxe, their latest CD, walks the thin line between catchiness and meaning. With a wide range of tempos and vocals, the cowboy message carries through: Life is a lonely journey down a dusty road, and love hides in clouds of alcohol.
Now in their fifties, with close to 30 million records sold and over 20 No. 1 hits, the Louisiana-born Brooks and the Oklahoma-raised Dunn can pretty much play whatever music they like. Of course, Hillbilly holds the obligatory top-40 tracks, but the soul of the album is the stories of their lives, songs preserved like photographs.
"She blew through the door like TNT," Dunn croons to kick off the album. "Play Something Country" is the first track for a reason: It's the fastest. The song is about a confident woman strutting into a bar and demanding country music. In this and most of Hillbilly's songs, the female comes with a side of booze. "Threw back a shot/yelled, 'I'm a George Strait junkie,'" Dunn describes the girl, almost patronizingly, before the catchy chorus: "Aw-oo-oo, play somethin' country!"
"My Heart's Not a Hotel" echoes the strange dilemmas that exist in the male half of contemporary country music. These guys came from nowhere towns and modest families but then struck it rich. So do they write about how poor they were or about how rich they are? Do they write about how they struggled to build relationships or about sexy 20-somethings spending hundreds of dollars for front-row seats?
"Oh, my heart's not a hotel/You can check in and out of," the duo sings in a story that exposes the vulnerable male in a relationship. The vocals paint a rich portrait -- the sadness sounds like an empty hotel on a highway. But when they sing, "I don't have the strength tonight/To turn you away," one can't help but smirk in disbelief. Who would ever use Ronnie Dunn's heart as a hotel? The vulnerable millionaire doesn't fit.
"Hillbilly Deluxe" is the album's most addictive song, narrating the weekend exploits of country friends wearing "black denim and chrome" and driving "slick pickup trucks." In sexy -- borderline sleazy -- vocals, the guys flirt with girls at stop lights. "Hey baby, what's your name?" Dunn asks. The story is heavily reminiscent of "Red Dirt Road," an earlier hit.
The beautiful lyrics of "Her West Was Wilder" include a half-spoken introduction: "There's a picture of us in Baja, California/Eating fish tacos and drinking cold, cold beer," Dunn says. It's the story of younger days, driving up the coast to see sunsets, and the girl that got away.
It's a long journey from "Play Something Country" to "Again," the album's last song. The bass guitar, slow drum beat and piano will give you the shivers. "Ain't it funny the turns life puts you through/Don't know what's round the bend," Dunn sings. The girl in the story makes him believe in love again.
Though it ends on an optimistic note, Hillbilly Deluxe tells the tale of men who have loved and lost. It's the perfect combination of bar room spirit and country soul.
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