Hillbilly Deluxe

1	Play Something Country 3:14
2	She's About as Lonely as I'm Going to Let Her Get 2:50
3	My Heart's Not a Hotel 3:40
4	Whiskey Do My Talkin' 3:34
5	Hillbilly Deluxe 4:18
6	One More Roll of the Dice 4:05
7	Just Another Neon Night 3:16
8	Believe 5:39
9	Building Bridges 4:23
10	Her West Was Wilder 3:33
11	I May Never Get Over You 2:56
12	She Likes to Get Out of Town 3:44
13	Again 3:15

Barnes & Noble

Yes, it's the same title as Dwight Yoakam's second album, but the similarities between Dwight and the durable country duo Brooks & Dunn end at the twang. Ronnie Dunn, with his nasal tenor, is as distinctive a vocalist as there is in contemporary country, and here he and partner Kix Brooks have cooked up some new tunes, smoldering and sensitive by turns, that give Dunn an opportunity for some vocal pyrotechnics of the first and most penetrating order. Of equal import, they've brought in super-producer Tony Brown to man the proceedings; he's gone to work on the sound, tightening it up and turning it loose with a mix of veteran session players and top-tier guests such as Little Feat's Billy Payne on keyboards, Willie Nelson's incomparable harmonica master Mickey Raphael, Texas guitar slinger David Grissom, and vocalists Vince Gill and Sheryl Crow (who share the mic on the thumping "Building Bridges," an earnest, sizzling vow of enduring love). B&D sound like brand-new men in this context, attacking pounding country rockers such as "Whiskey Do My Talkin' " and the turbocharged boogie of "Play Something Country" with startling ferocity. Keyed by harmonica, organ, mandolin, trebly 12-string guitar, and mandolin and awash in a thick, swirling soundscape that owes a debt both to Steve Earle and latter-day Rodney Crowell, "My Heart's Not a Hotel" frames a deeply felt Kix Brooks vocal treatment of an up-tempo weeper. On the mellow side, the soothing "Believe," a wistful reminiscence of an old man who exemplified the important lessons in life, is showstopping proof of the superior and sensitive balladeer Dunn can be when the time comes. The solid, steadfast Hillbilly Deluxe consolidates B&D's strengths and delivers a few new knockout punches along the way. David McGee

All Music Guide

During the first half of the 2000s Brooks & Dunn broadened their horizons, incorporating stronger elements of pop and rock to their neo-traditionalist country. As its title suggests, 2005's Hillbilly Deluxe finds the duo returning to their roots, creating a lean, tight collection of 13 straight-ahead country songs. This may be a reaction to the romanticization of rednecks in recent country music, but Hillbilly Deluxe doesn't sound crass or commercial. It sounds like a logical back-to-basics move after the rock flirtations of 2001's Steers and Stripes and 2003's Red Dirt Road. Brooks & Dunn don't hide their intentions at all: not only does the album boast a proudly hillbilly title, but the album kicks off with the anthemic "Play Something Country," where a redneck woman implores the DJ to play some "Kenny, Keith, Alan, and Patsy Cline", and Brooks & Dunn follow that advice for the rest of the album, never straying far from country, even when they're covering Nicolette Larson's early-'80s hit "Building Bridges" with Sheryl Crow on backing vocals. Most of this direction seems to come from Ronnie Dunn, who provides the great majority of original material here: six of the 13 songs are from Dunn (all but one co-written with Terry McBride), and his tunes are the purest country here, whether it's barroom tales like "Whiskey Do My Talkin'" or weepers like "I May Never Get Over You." That's not to say that Kix Brooks doesn't have a presence here. With the exception of the poppier "One More Roll of the Dice," he also devotes himself to straight-ahead country, highlighted by the sweetly melancholy "Her West Was Wilder" and the rocking closer, "She Likes to Get out of Town." Brooks might not write as much here as he normally does, but the covers he sings are expertly chosen, and the album as a whole gels as well as either Steers and Stripes or Red Dirt Road. Even though Hillbilly Deluxe isn't quite as ambitious as either of those records, it's just as satisfying and further proof that Brooks & Dunn are one of the most reliable, consistently enjoyable acts in modern country music. Stephen Thomas Erlewine