Merle Haggard Helped Get Brooks and Dunn Back Together

Merle Haggard deserves credit for a lot in country music. As arguably a Mount Rushmore artist, singer, songwriter, and performer in country history, it’s hard to fathom what country music would sound like and where it would be if it wasn’t for The Hag. His catalog and legacy loom as large as any, with songs like “Mama Tried,” “Working Man Blues,” and “Okie From Muskogee” creating the very foundations of what we consider “country music” today.

But who knew that late in his career when an aging Merle Haggard was in his swan song, he also played a pivotal role in the legacy of another Country Music Hall of Fame act: Brooks & Dunn. Now granted, not every Merle Haggard fan might be a Brooks & Dunn fan. When they came along in the ’90s, some old-school country fans felt they symbolized the over-commercialization of country. But as for Merle Haggard, he was a huge fan and admirer of the duo.

That is why after Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn announced they were parting ways in 2010 after their “Last Rodeo” tour, Merle Haggard was ticked. And like Merle Haggard had a penchant for doing, he let them know about it. Lo and behold, when Ronnie and Kix finally decided to get back together, Merle Haggard was directly responsible.

In a recent interview with RFD-TV, Kix Brooks reminisced, “[Merle] was a great friend, and he chewed my butt because Ronnie and I stopped in 2010. We really thought we’d gone as far as we could. And he chewed me out then. We’re in Woodstock, NY sold out, and he’s looking out the window and goes, ‘What the hell are y’all doing? Look at all those people out there? Why would you stop playing?'”

Kix Brooks goes on to explain that when the duo was formed, he didn’t even know Ronnie Dunn. They wrote their first two #1 records the week they met. Then it was off to the races for the next 20 years and they had never taken a break, and never slowed down, thinking it could all end the next year, even though it never did.

Then when Kix Brooks was interviewing Merle as the host of American Country Countdown, in the middle of the conversation, Merle stopped down and said, “When are you getting back together with Ronnie?”

Kix Brooks responded, “I don’t know Merle. We’re talking. We’ve been duck hunting quite a few times.”

And Merle responded, “No, when are you two getting back together, and doing your job? … Let me tell you something, you two got a thing. Everybody doesn’t get that opportunity. At the level you guys have gotten to, don’t waste that. You guys have a thing, and you need to get back to work.”

Kix Brooks then took that clip from the interview and sent it to Ronnie Dunn. “Merle’s kind of our living dad,” Kix explains, “And Ronnie posted it immediately. It really put a fire beneath us.”

Brooks & Dunn would reform to open shows for Reba McEntire in Las Vegas in 2015. Subsequently, they have won the CMA’s Vocal Duo of the Year both in 2024 and in 2025. Once again, Merle Haggard was right.

Brooks & Dunn, and their music have definitely been big beneficiaries of the resurgence in interest in ’90s country recently, perhaps even more than someone like Garth Brooks with his inaccessible catalog, or other “Class of ’89” acts like Travis Tritt, if only because their music was so defining of the era.

Though they’ve spent more recent years participating in “Reboot” retrospectives, now feels like the time for them to release a new, original album. Their last original album was 2007’s Cowboy Town. Something tells me that Merle Haggard would agree.

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