Finally: Brooks & Dunn is Working On New Music

We might be finally getting new music from one of the most iconic duos in country music history. Finally.

As wild as it might seem to say, Brooks & Dunn, who released their debut album in 1991, are currently the reigning CMA Vocal Duo of the Year, and might be the most relevant duo in all of country music. They’ve won Duo of the Year 16 times, including consecutively over the last two years. They’re also likely favorites to win the award in 2026 when the CMAs transpire on November 18th.

But in the ironic split screen that is Brooks & Dunn career of being both legendary and relevant at the same time, the Country Music Hall of Famers will be awarded the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 CMAs. And all of this comes from a country act that hasn’t released an album of new original music since 2007, meaning going on 20 years.

But all of that might be about to change.

“Obviously there’s been a resurgence of ’90s music. I feel like we did have a heck of a run in the ’90s. A lot of the parents who really like ’90s music turn their kids on to it…” said Kix Brooks in a recent interview with CBS Mornings.

This is true, and perhaps the primary reason Brooks & Dunn is as popular as they have ever been. But except for a couple of pretty mild and messy reworkings of their previous hits on the albums Reboot (2019) and Reboot II (2024), their music is being enjoyed retrospectively since nothing new has been released.

Now with artists like Zach Top, Jake Worthington, Cole Goodwin, and many more releasing songs inspired by Brooks & Dunn, why couldn’t Brooks & Dunn release some of their own, and successfully?

In the CBS Mornings interview, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn explain how even though they’ve had plenty of disagreements over the years, they’ve never raised their voices at each other, or come to the point of completely falling out, even when they went on hiatus. Their ability to compromise has been key.

When asked by interviewer David Begnaud, “What was the last thing you had to compromise on?”

Ronnie Dunn responds,“We’re compromising right now. We’re working on a new record. You talk about the ultimate compromise. As songwriters, we’re firing stuff back and forth, you know, we’re criticizing one another’s music, that’s the holy grail, right? I want all my songs on there, he wants all his songs on there. So we have to work that stuff out. And you sweat and bleed every word.”

Kix Brooks adds, “We both realize down deep, that song I wrote is better than that song I wrote. So you have to be honest with yourself and then at some point, we gotta be honest with each other.”

So it sounds like they’re at least going through the writing process of producing a new album. And now that they’re both in their early 70s, it couldn’t come sooner.

These promising quotes from the duo are in stark contrast to what they said about recording new music back in 2019.

“I don’t know,” Ronnie Dunn responded to the question at that time. “I don’t know how that works these days. We know how to make records, write songs. But I don’t know how you work the system to get it heard anymore. Not to sound cocky, but we can write songs as good as we ever could I think. It’s just going through the political process of what you have to do … to make it happen.”

But it is a different day in country music than it was in 2019 at the tail end of the Bro-Country era. Could Brooks & Dunn release a hit record of ’90s country today? They very well could. But just like everything in country music, the appeal for retro ’90s country could be waning too. So it’s better sooner than later. And for Brooks & Dunn, it’s also better late than never.

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