Brooks & Dunn

When Brooks & Dunn dropped "Brand New Man," they were just looking for a hit and not thinking about realigning the potential for modern country music. But with their bulked-up sound, their full-tilt attack and their way with a hook and a melody, 21 #1 singles and 27 million records later, it's safe to say their revved up honky tonk sound has redefined country.

"Neon Moon" led to "Boot Scootin' Boogie" led to "Hard Workin' Man," "That Ain't No Way To Go," "Rock My World (Little Country Girl)" led to "She's Not The Cheatin' Kind," "My Maria," "Mama Don't Get Dressed Up For Nothing," and a string of hits in this millennium that is second to none: "Only In America," "Ain't Nothing 'Bout You," "You Can't Take The Honky Tonk Out Of The Girl," "The Long Goodbye" and "Red Dirt Road."

Given that Brooks & Dunn have played the Presidential Inauguration, the Winter Olympics and the Dale Earnhardt Tribute Concert; have staged three Neon Circus & Wild West Shows - featuring a sideshow of jugglers, clowns, trick ropers, mechanical bulls; the Honky Tonk Hall of Fame along with some of the brightest rising stars in country music ranging from Toby Keith and Keith Urban to Montgomery Gentry and Rascal Flatts; raise all kinds of money for myriad charities; and even graced the Corn Flakes box, this is a duo that knows how to get things done. They're not afraid to dig in, to work hard, and to keep striving.

The Village Voice hailed Dunn's gifts as a singer, proclaiming, "Ronnie Dunn intentionally sounds like the missing link between Ray Charles and Hank Williams," and Rolling Stone claimed, "Nobody in Nashville has a truer, fuller tenor than Dunn."

And it's a tenor put to good use on this second edition of songs that have become classics. There is the percolating of hope in the wreckage, "How Long Gone"; a contemplative recasting of Roger Miller's classic "Husbands & Wives"; the soaring passion play "If You See Him (If You See Her)," which matches Dunn with former touring partner Reba McEntire; Paul Brady's recognition, "The Long Goodbye"; and the rafter-scraping "I Can't Get Over You." In addition, Brooks turns in a particularly dusty "South of Sante Fe," which embodies the Southwestern appeal that is so much a part of this act.

Given the enduring nature of the music - if you stretched all the Brooks & Dunn albums sold, they would stretch all the way to the moon and you can't go an hour without hearing one of their songs on the radio - it comes down to quality.

Though Brooks' father was an oil field guy and Dunn's father drove some rigs, it was Brooks who picked up the low rumbling "Independent Trucker," a celebration of that rolling and tumbling lifestyle that is as rootless as it is romantic. And that is one of the gifts that has made Brooks & Dunn a perennial, they see both sides of the reality: something that is demanding, yet rewarding all at once.

With all the awards - CMAs, ACMs, Grammys, American Music Awards, Pollstar, Billboard and beyond, all the hits - and plenty more to come, all the sales - with 25 million certified and 2 million in spare change (they're the second best-selling duo only to Simon & Garfunkel), it still comes down to the fans and the music.

*By arrangement with the William Morris Agency