Brooks & Dunn released their debut album BRAND NEW MAN
in 1991. Fast forward to 2001 and they
released their seventh studio album, STEERS & STRIPES (Arista
Nashville). It was produced by the duo
and Mark Wright. Five of the songs made
it on to the Billboard Hot Country & Singles Tracks chart, with 3 hitting
#1.
‘Only in America’ was used by George W. Bush and Barack
Obama in their presidential runs. It is
a rousing, patriotic country and western song: “One kid dreams of fame and
fortune/One kid helps pay the rent/One could end up goin’ to prison/One just
might be President/Only in America/Dreamin’ in red, white an’ blue/Only in
America/Where we dream as big as we want to/We all get a chance/Everybody gets
to dance/Only in America”. ‘The Last
Thing I Do’ is a fast-paced country rocker of determination: “Yea, I’ve been
drivin’ like I’m struck by lightnin’/I think about you and I start to speed/I
might as well be playin’ with matches/In a truckload of gasoline/If it’s the
last thing I do/If it takes me from Tupelo to Timbuktu/If it’s the last thing I
do/I’m gonna dodge every roadblock, speed trap and county cop/To get my hands
on you/If it’s the last thing I do (3X)”.
‘The Long Goodbye’ is a great ballad about the demise of a
romantic relationship: “How long must we keep running on a carousel/Goin’ round
and round and never getting anywhere/On a wing and prayer?/This is the long
goodbye/Somebody tell me why/Two lovers in love can’t make it/Just what kind of
love keeps breaking a heart?/No matter how hard I try/I always make you
cry/Come on, baby/It’s over, let’s face it/All that’s happening here is a long
goodbye”. ‘Go West’ is a melodic
country/pop song about a young couple: “And that painted sky was made for
us/It’s everything we ever dreamed of/Yea, we can drive all night and till the
mornin’ light/Let’s go west/A place that we can go where the tall dreams
grow/Let’s go west/And we’ll find a place to call our own/There’s somewhere out
there we belong/Let’s go west”.
‘My Heart is Lost to You’ has a warm, tropical feel to it:
“Maybe it was the moonlight, the scent of you on the breeze/Maybe it was your
shadow that fell over me/Such a beautiful stranger, eyes darker than coal/Your
first look crossed the desert into my soul/Mi corazon es perdido a ti/My heart
is lost to you/You have captured my love completely/My heart is lost to you
(2X)”. ‘Good Girls Go to Heaven’ is a
fun, scorchin’ honky tonk song: “Miss high fullutin’ likes to sip fine
champagne/Prim and proper drippin’ in diamond rings/Little sister wears high
heels and blue jeans/A long neck drinkin’ certified wild thang/Some they walk
the straight and narrow/Some girls they just don’t care/Good girls to heaven/Bad
girls go everywhere (2X)”.
‘When She’s Gone, She’s Gone’ is a realistic and pretty
country ballad: “It’s not good for a man to be alone/But a woman needs someone
that she can count on/And what I’d give to go back, but the current’s just too
strong/And love is like the Mississippi/When she’s gone, she’s gone/Yeah, she’s
gone”. ‘Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You’ was the
album’s lead single. It spent six weeks
at the top of the Country charts and Billboard ranked it as the Top Country
Song of 2001. This country/pop gem
praises a woman poetically: “I love your attitude, your rose tattoo, your every
thought/Your smile, your lips, and girl the list goes on and on/The way you
look, the way you laugh/The way you love with all you have/There ain’t nothing
‘bout you that don’t do something for me/The way you kiss, the way you cry/The
way you move when you walk by...”.
‘Unloved’ is actually a strong declaration of love: “Now and
then comes a love that’s heaven sent and meant to be/So baby, look at me/You’ll
never be without, you’ll always have enough/When you’re in my arms/You’ll never
go unloved/As long as there is time/And for all of it to come/No matter where
you go/I want you to know you’ll never be unloved”. ‘Deny, Deny, Deny’ is a playful song that
begins with these humorous words: “That wasn’t me at a quarter to three back in
our backyard/Tearing up the roses and the home grown tomatoes in my new
car/Those bottles in the driveway and the bottles in the hall/Well, I don’t
know where they came from/It must be burglars in the neighborhood/I sure hope
they catch those bums”.
‘Lucky Me, Lonely You’ is an old time country and western
dance number: “Girl, you’ve got lonely written all over you/I can read the
writing from across this crowded room/All by yourself there in your world of
blue/Lucky me, lonely you/Who knows?/The right song, a slow dance might heal
your heartache/Somethin’ tells me I don’t know/I just might be here to save the
day”. ‘I Fall’ is an easy listening song
that begins with utopian lyrics: “I breeze through the day/And nothin’ much
seems to get in my way/I don’t have a care at all/You walk in the room/It’s
always the same/You call out my name/I turn/You smile/I fall”.
‘Every River’ uses hyperbole: “When the day comes that I
don’t love you/Every star will fall out of the sky/And every mountain will
tumble down/And every river run dry”.
Last up is ‘See Jane Dance’, a carefree rocker: “She jumped up on the
stage and after many margaritas/She took her place in line amongst the tanned
senioritas/She tore into a groove and lost her inhibition/Stirrin’ up the
crowd, she blew away the competition/In her leopard underpants/See Jane dance”.
STEERS & STRIPES is modern country music at its
best! This album is a fine mix of fun
story songs and quieter, more tender moments.
The album is full of emotion.
Love, infatuation, commitment, and heartbreak are main themes. Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn share lead vocal
duties. Background vocalists include:
Bob Bailey, Kim Fleming, Chris Rodriguez, and Trisha Yearwood. Instruments used include: gut string guitar,
B-3 organ, steel guitar, dobro, and The Nashville String Machine. I’m rating STEERS & STRIPES a perfect 100%. For more info visit: www.brooksanddunn.wordpress.com.