Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NASHVILLE, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- For more than 10 years, country duo Brooks & Dunn has racked up hit songs and awards to the tune of 23 No. 1 singles and four Entertainer of the Year awards, while selling more than 25 million records. The boys have even found themselves on the cover of a Kellogg's Corn Flakes box. Of course, their Neon Circus and Wild West Show, which just finished its third - and perhaps final - season, continues to be a top-grossing tour of the industry. The duo personally chose the acts who participated (the 2003 show featured Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Aaron Lines and Jeff Bates) and the outlandish street performers. Friday, the duo performs on NBC's Today show. Advertisement With "Red Dirt Road," their tenth Arista release out last month, they give listeners a glimpse into their pasts and their influences, with music that they admit is more personal than any they have ever released. United Press International's Crystal Caviness talked to Kix Brooks, one half of the duo that also includes lead singer Ronnie Dunn, from his Nashville-area home. Advertisement Q. You could have chosen to do anything you wanted at this point in your careers. Why did you pick now and this album to give your fans a look into your pasts, your souls? A. This sounds so cliched at this point. I really think the honest answer to that question is 9/11 changed all of us so much...When that happened, everybody in this country, if you didn't make a phone call to a close friend or a relative or weren't genuinely deeply affected, everybody...it was like hug-a-cop day. But I think after that, I started not only looking at the things that really mattered in life, but probably our mortality was challenged to see so many people snatched out of the world in a blink of an eye. I started looking back at my life and the things that really mattered to me. It was at that point that we started writing this CD. For the next two years, it was more reflective, looking inside our lives. Traditionally, it's been fun and games. All of a sudden, without even meaning to, we started digging a little deeper. Q. There's a line in your single, the title track from "Red Dirt Road," which you and Ronnie wrote, that says "there's life at both ends of that red dirt road." Advertisement A. In life, we draw on not just the good, but also the bad. To have a well-rounded life, you need to learn from the dark side and the light side. It's all-important. It's all-important in finding your way. It's not just about being successful and achieving things. It's about the little things. Q. You and Ronnie have been business partners for more than a decade. How do you maintain the chemistry? A. We give each other a lot of space. We have our own buses. We're fortunate enough to do those kinds of things. We're grown men and we're going to have private lives. Lots of people ask us why we don't write together more. We've been fortunate enough to write some great hits together. We deal with a ton of business together. (But) that last bit of energy you have to stare each other down to come up with something brilliant and creative, it just isn't going to happen. Q. And yet, you did write "Red Dirt Road" together. A. Ronnie had the chorus and the idea. Ronnie gave it to me and said, see what you think, and I came up with the verses. We do have a neat thing when it works. Advertisement Q. How involved were you and Ronnie in the design of the Neon Circus and Wild West Show? A. The design is all ours. Everything we do from the set to who is on the tour to the music, we do it all. We come up with everything. ... Ronnie's just a geek for merchandise. He'd rather talk about a T-shirt than a song. Then we have a great management company that works out the details. Q. This was the show's third year. How long will the Neon Circus and Wild West Show go on? A. It's such a huge thing, it can only go in so many places. It may be time to do something else and give it a rest.
