Friday, May 23, 2003 | 9:32 a.m.
Cirque du Soleil and country music. About as likely a pair as a ski jacket and a Southern Nevada summer.
Yet for veteran duo Brooks & Dunn, a trip to one of Las Vegas' very own production shows resulted in a radical new approach to country music touring.
When the pair open The Orleans Arena on Sunday night at 6, they will do so not only with a handful of opening acts, but also with a "Neon Circus & Wild West Show" company of performers that includes clowns, jugglers and magicians.
"We used to just tour with a couple of other acts like everybody else does, and then we got inspired by the Cirque du Soleil in Vegas," guitarist and singer Kix Brooks said in a recent phone interview from his tour bus as he and 13-year musical partner Ronnie Dunn rolled through Kentucky.
"We're waiting for the show to start and here's all these clowns just walking around messing with people, stealing their popcorn and all that stuff," Brooks said, referring to "Mystere" at Treasure Island.
"And we're going, 'Man this is a great idea.' Because in between our acts people are just walking around with that glazed look on their face like they do at concerts. And we're like, 'We need to do something to entertain.' "
For the past two years attending a Brooks & Dunn concert has also meant seeing the likes of the "world's strongest man," a hypnotist who brings audience members onstage under his control and even a group of BMX bikers.
Also on tonight's bill are country performers Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, Aaron Lines and Jeff Bates, along with comedic country singer Cledus T. Judd.
"There's just a lot for people to do, not only before the show but in between acts," Brooks said. "And once people started having fun all the way through, we said, 'You know, it's not gonna hurt to put some more music in here because this is really a seamless thing.' So we just keep people rockin'."
Included in Brooks & Dunn's set will be material from their upcoming eighth studio album, "Red Dirt Road," due July 15.
The disc's title track and leadoff single debuted at No. 13 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart this month. That song, along with four other stripped-down selections on a promotional sampler issued by the band, have expectations high for crossover success for the duo's soon-to-be-released full-length album.
"If anything, we probably got away a little bit from basic formula," Brooks said. "We started on the last album, but it helps that we both have studios at our homes now. We still cut with a full band in the studio and all that, but it allowed us to go in and, if guitars were overdoing it, we'd just pull them off and either get the same players to come back or get somebody else.
"A lot of times we felt like the electric bass was doing something that we didn't want happening, so we put stand-up on a lot of things. We just spent a lot of time experimenting and trying to get a little more honest, a little earthier overall vibe going."
Brooks & Dunn were freed up to do that experimenting after their last album, 2001's "Steers & Stripes," re-established the pair as a major chart success, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Their previous effort, 1999's "Tight Rope," peaked at No. 31.
"I really think we're happiest and we're making our best music when we're in a valley (laughs). Before 'Steers & Stripes' it just really got us fired up," Brooks said. "Our label went under, and we had an album in the middle of that that didn't do very well. And for the first time we didn't win Duo of the Year and we just kind of looked at each other and went, 'Let's go.'
" 'Steers and Stripes' was a great rebound, and it did loosen the noose a little bit. If we hadn't had 'Steers & Stripes,' I think we were probably on a natural decline like most acts that have been out as long as us go through. And who knows how far down it goes or if it goes away. But fortunately we've got a grip on it again."
Indeed, Brooks & Dunn are back on top after being named Top Vocal Duo at Wednesday's "Academy of Country Music Awards," the 18th ACMA of their career.
Included on "Steers & Stripes" was the hit single, "Only in America," a song written long before the tragedy of Sept. 11, but which resonated even stronger after the terrorist attacks. It also helped balance the lighthearted nature of Brooks & Dunn's "Neon Circus."
"We love inflatables and confetti. We've got so much fun and games onstage that we were real concerned at that point in time, right after 9-11, because it was such a serious time for us," Brooks said. "Thank God we had that song, because it was a bit of good, honest flag waving that we had been doing all year."
The song's opening line -- "Sun comin' up over New York City" -- provided an appropriate kickoff for the duo's first shows back on tour after Sept. 11.
"We went out that first night after 9-11 and we were opening the show with 'Only in America.' Ronnie caught me on the way to the stage and said, 'Do you realize what the first line of that song is?' " Brooks said.
"So we told them to hold for like 10 minutes and we just kept the stage black and went backstage and wrote a little introduction. We said it wasn't right to let these guys tell us how we were gonna live our lives. And they were screaming 'USA' so loud before we even got done, I mean, it just let us know that we were doing the right thing going back out."
As far as their fans are concerned, Brooks & Dunn have been doing the right thing since 1990, when a chance meeting forever changed the two men's career paths. Both had failed to make hay as solo artists, but their tandem approach worked immediately, producing the breakout debut album, "Brand New Man."
More than a decade later, the pair have 20 No. 1 hits to their credit, including "Boot Scootin' Boogie," "Neon Moon," "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" and a cover of B.W. Stevenson's "My Maria."
How do they keep their collaboration fresh after so many years?
"Probably the biggest thing is how many years both of us struggled," Brooks said. "We both had failed solo careers, we both had failed solo record deals, and we both played clubs for years. So I think we really appreciate how fortunate we are that this has happened to us."
And, Brooks added, because success came later in life, the two men place a high value on each other's contributions.
"I think for some other acts, if 'Brand New Man' would have happened to us when we were 20 years old, we would have thought we were that good," he said. "And who knows what would have gotten into our heads? 'I don't need you,' and this and that.
"But I think we do appreciate that we do need each other. And for whatever reason that's really not easy to explain, we've become a great success as a duo, and we're not inclined to screw it up. We're grown men that are making a great living and having a great time doing what we love to do.""
Kix Brooks
BROOKS & DUNN
archive
