Brooks & Dunn remembers the first two ACM awards they won in 1992 when they snagged both Top New Duo of the Year and Duo of the Year.
“It felt like we were in the game,” Kix Brooks said. “It was our first big prices.”
“I can remember that we went out of the stage, I looked like that, and [Kix] So that way and we fought both tears back, ”added Ronnie Dunn.
Twenty-five ACM awards later, including winning the coveted entertainer of the year three times, the acclaimed duo received another award on Wednesday night (May 7): ACM Diamond President’s award. The honor presented at ACM Lifting Lives Gala at Omni PGA Hotel in Frisco, Texas, goes to an artist who has left a mark on the academy and on the country music industry as a whole through their artistic and humanitarian endeavors.
The evening held the night before the 60s ACM awards raised more than $ 1.3 million to ACM Lift, the philanthropic arm of the Academy, which provides help to people in need through health-related initiatives, including national music therapy programs, mental and physical health organizations, child hospitals and more.
The couple who talk to Billboard At the beginning of the evening, more than happy to give their name to raise money for a good cause. “If we can find something that someone can link something that is worth and good for something, we are good at going,” says Dunn.
They were feted by a number of artists who had grown up on their music, and many of whom had developed deep personal ties with the most successful duo in the history of the country music.
Keith Urban remembers shortly after moving to America from Australia who heard the duo’s music when songs like “Brand New Man” and “Hard Workin ‘Man” “just jumped out of the radio with so much energy,” Urban told Billboard. “They weren’t just good songs, they were good records.”
Urban, who performed a smoking version of “Brand New Man,” first met Brooks when Urban and his then band, The Ranch, played in a dive bar called Jack’s guitar bar that held about 80 people, “with miserable shag blanket everywhere there were beer soaked and equally terrible.” Brooks had heard of the band, and after a formal event, one evening came into the bar with his wife. “Kix is dressed for the nines, and so is Barbara in this absolute Sh-Thole Pub,” he says with a laugh. After finding the last seat for his wife, Brooks sat on the blanket in his tuxedo “and saw our whole set.” Although Ranch did not have a record deal, Brooks expanded an offer to have the band open to Brooks & Dunn, as they did in 1997.
Similarly, Brooks & Dunn Megan Moroney, who performed a lung version of “Ain’t Nothin ‘Bout You, took out her first arenatur of 2023.” They took me kind under their wing. I would come out and sing’ Cowgirls don’t cry ‘with them every night and I remember I was really nervous. [rubbed] From me a little and made me feel more comfortable, ”she says.” I thought it was really sweet of them to take a chance for me and let me open up to them. It was like a dream that came true for me and my parents, so anytime I am asked to do something for Brooks and Dunn, I am there. “
After growing up on Brooks & Dunn’s music, Cody Johnson first met them when he performed “Red Dirt Road” with the duo in the 2019s Restart Collection that reimbursed some of the couple’s biggest hits with other artists. The first line of the song, “I was bred from Ruity Route 3,” always resonated with Johnson because he was actually bred from a rural route 3 in Texas, just as Dunn was in Arkansas. “We just hit it. I think they figured out they were my heroes, but I also did not treat them differently,” he said. “And even though I was a young hopeful artist, they didn’t treat me anything else either.” Johnson performed “Red Dirt Road” to open Gala’s entertainment part and will perform the song with the duo at the ACM Awards on Thursday.
Lainy Wilson electrified the audience with a soaring version of “My Maria” and called the duo on stage with her to sing the last half of the song. “I didn’t expect you to come up here with me,” Wilson said with a laugh after they finished the song for great applause.
“They are really the soundtrack in my childhood,” she said backstage. “We used to steal my father’s hunting light and we would turn all the lights into the house and my sister would follow me around the living room with [my singing into] A hairbrush. ‘My Mary’ was one of those that I would belt out. It’s pretty crazy to think that I actually really know them now. “As Dunn again proved when he hit” My Maria’s “Sky-High notes,” he’s one of the best singers on earth, “Wilson said. [his mouth?]”
Also appeared in honor of the duo was Zach Top, playing “My Next Broken Heart” and Eric Church who sang “You will miss me when I’m away.”
The evening closed with a Singalong on “Play Something Country” with Brooks & Dunn, Church, Wilson, Urban, Top and Moroney.
Brooks & Dunn that released Reboot 2 By 2024, an album with new material is being recorded that would be their first since 2007’s Cowboy Town. “We kick with,” says Brooks. “We are working on what we push that row,” says Dunn, adding that their new label bosses in Sony Nashville – Chairman/CEO Hilary Lindsey and President/Coo Ken Robold – also encourage them to move forward. “We have a label that we had a really good meeting with. They can’t make us make a record, but they would very much like to see us doing it,” says Brooks. “They don’t want to set a record that is not a big record.”
The couple also recognizes that they are among the top Tier League of Acts that have been so successful that they compete with their own heritage.
“He’s not a country artist, but I love to quote Billy Joel,” says Brooks, “he said ‘I haven’t made a new record in [32] years and it works pretty well. ” ‘
But they admit that there is the annoying feeling that they have more left to say. “I still think we have the juice to be able to sell a new one,” says Dunn. “I just want to put one more through the goal posts.”