Brooks & Dunn Cowboy Town [Arista] OIctober, 2007
Produced by Tony Brown, Ronnie Dunn and Kix Books
Review by Cheryl Breo
Brooks and Dunn have always been one of my favorite Country duos, their music always being what I thought "country" was all about, Ronnie's powerful vocals, Kix's driving guitar and songs whose lyrics really spoke to the heart.
Unfortunately for me, "Cowboy Town" was a major disappointment. After reading an interview that the duo did, stating they recorded 34 tracks for this album, then had to pick the 12 that would make the finished product, it makes me wonder what those other 22 tracks were like.
There is no lack of energy on this CD, and there is some of the familiar Brooks and Dunn venue on "Cowboy Town”, particularly in the CD's first single release "Proud Of The House We Built”, with Ronnie's powerful, rich voice singing of the tough course life can sometimes take, but love, faith and family are the glue that holds everything together, “I’m proud of the house we built, it's stronger than sticks, stones or steel”, an anthem to the American family.
In the very poignant ballad, "God Must Be Busy", I am happy to hear the spiritual, down-to-earth, honest, powerful lyrics about today's troubled world, “I know in the big picture, I'm just a speck of sand, and God's got better things to do then look out for one man, I know he's heard my prayers, cause he hears everything, he just ain't answered back or he'd bring you back to me, “God Must Be Busy"
But "high musical standards and a maverick attitude" may have taken them a little TOO far out of the box this time around. I feel that too many of the tracks, like "Tequila" and "Drop In The Bucket" are a bit too much bar room swagger, with lyrics that simply take a back seat to a pounding honky tonk beat.
Brooks and Dunn certainly were striving to break new ground and push the boundaries musically on “Cowboy Town", but perhaps they forgot that old saying "less is more", when it came to overloading the CD with rockin' tracks. This reviewer really missed hearing Ronnie's awesome voice on those ballads. As I saw one reviewer say, "How can an act so capable of greatness deliver such an uneven album?" My question, too.
Sorry Ronnie and Kix, I can only give you 2 stars for this one.
