New music from the powerhouse duo?
There’s absolutely no denying that Brooks & Dunn is the most prolific duo in the history of country music. Beyond their 20 #1 hits, including the likes of “Brand New Man,” “Neon Moon” and “My Maria,” their 11 RIAA certified-platinum albums and status as one of the key members of the beloved ’90s country era, the duo recently stamped their names in the history books at the 59th annual CMA Awards last month.
Beating out the likes of Brothers Osborne, The War And Treaty and Dan + Shay in an admittedly weak Vocal Duo of the Year category, the powerhouse duo fully regained their title as the most awarded artist in CMA History with a staggering 20 wins after breaking their tie with Chris Stapleton (19).
What’s been the ongoing narrative with Brooks & Dunn, both with their back-to-back CMA Vocal Duo wins and in general, is the lack of new music throughout the better part of the past two decades.
Though they have released not one but two Reboot albums in 2019 and 2024 respectively, re-recording their most iconic hits with everyone from Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Lainey Wilson to Cody Johnson, Jake Worthington and Kacey Musgraves, you have to go back 18 years to find the last time the pair released original music.
This, of course, was their 10th studio album, Cowboy Town, in 2007, which included their #2 hit with Reba McEntire, “Cowgirls Don’t Cry,” as well as “Put a Girl in It” and “Proud of the House We Built.” Since then, however, there’s been absolutely nothing in terms of original music from the pair.
Much to the joy of Brooks & Dunn fans around the country, it looks like that is going to change very soon, with the help of none other than hitmaker and songwriting extraordinaire, Ernest.
In a joint Instagram post from the official Brooks & Dunn account and Dunn’s personal page, Ernest appeared in a video. Noting that Dunn texted him about writing a brand new song, he seemingly indicated that the duo is looking to record new music with the help of the “I Had Some Help” co-writer.
“You’re texting the right guy this morning, Ronnie Dunn. I got my ring on and everything. I got my f***** country-smash ring on so, and I got nothing to do. I’ll go f*** with a guitar and see what happens.
I’m assuming you need tempo, show-bangers, smash. ‘Hard Workin’ Man’ 2.0. Probably not another cowboy song. Of course, I say that, and you’ll probably take a cowboy song so. I’m going to try to write a hit.”
If you recall, last December, Kix Brooks stepped down as host of American Country Countdown, a show he’d been hosting since January 2006. Citing a desire to concentrate more heavily on Brooks & Dunn as a duo, Brooks would tell Billboard that fans could expect a new album from the pair within the next few years.
“In the next two years? I’d say pretty good… I’m sure Ronnie’s got his own idea of how that could work. But I know he’s been writing a lot of songs. He’s sending me songs all the time. Ronnie’s fired up about getting into that. And I’m certainly not going to hold him back, and I will do my best to keep up and do my part.”
In the same interview, Brooks was also blunt about not chasing a #1 record, essentially acknowledging the fact that they’re making music to satisfy both themselves as artists and for their long-time fans.
“As far as Ronnie and I, we don’t have any honest expectations of having a No. 1 record, any more than probably George Strait or Garth or Reba. We’re not necessarily making music now to try and fight our way up to No. 1. We’ve definitely had our time in that spotlight, and would it be great? Yeah, sure. But we’ve been doing this long enough to know how the world turns here, so that’s not something that we would have delusions of.”
As for the inclusion of Ernest into the mix, it’s safe to say his track record speaks for itself. In addition to the aforementioned “I Had Some Help,” which scored Post Malone and Morgan Wallen an all-genre #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, he has also co-written a collection of Wallen’s additional hits such as “Wasted On You,” “Heartless” and “You Proof” as well as Post Malone and Luke Combs’ #1 hit, “Guy For That,” Koe Wetzel’s “Oklahoma Sun” and his duet with Charles Wesley Godwin, “Dead To Rights.”
As of now, there is no additional information surrounding the new Brooks & Dunn song/project, but all signs point to receiving something new from the legendary duo at some point in 2026. In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait and see what Ernest and the pair have in store.
While you’re here, fire up Ernest’s feature on “Indian Summer” off of Reboot II.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.whiskeyriff.com ’
