Red Dirt Road

1	You Can't Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl 3:41
2	Caroline 3:49
3	When We Were Kings 4:12
4	That's What She Gets for Loving Me 2:56
5	Red Dirt Road 4:20
6	Feels Good Don't It 2:44
7	I Used to Know This Song by Heart 4:27
8	Believer 3:46
9	Memory Town 4:04
10	She Was Born to Run 3:41
11	Till My Dyin' Day 3:03
12	My Baby's Everything I Love 3:39
13	Good Day to Be Me 2:55
14	Good Cowboy 4:23
15	Holy War 5:09

Barnes & Noble

The sinewy, Stonesy guitar licks firing up Red Dirt Road's opening sizzler, "You Can't Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl," serve notice that Brooks & Dunn are feeling their roots in a profound way. The acclaimed duo's contemporary take on honky-tonk embraces traditional grooves fueled by rock 'n' roll guitar, honkin' saxes, burbling B3 organs, whooping female choruses, and powerhouse percussion -- it's a heady brew. Ronnie Dunn's nasally twang has rarely packed so much passion and power as it does here, even to the point of hitting some soul-piercing falsetto notes on the bluesy southern rocker, "Caroline." At the other end of the spectrum, Dunn delivers a stirring, deeply soulful reading of the blues-tinged ballad of love and commitment, "That's What She Gets for Loving Me," a languid affair given a dreamy soundscape courtesy dobro, harmonica, organ, and acoustic guitar strums. Blue-eyed soul meets gospel on Dunn's midtempo love testimonial, "Believer," and Kix Brooks shows off his own gritty vocal prowess on a hard-rocking, Springsteen-like reminiscence of flaming youth, "When We Were Kings." With B&D claiming writing credits on a dozen of the 15 tracks here, Red Dirt Road feels like their most personal album to date: It rocks hard and digs its heels into tough-minded country, but also manages to feel honest and deep in its sensitive moments. The duo's fans will eat this up, and those who aren't on board yet are likely to head down the Red Dirt Road real quick. David McGee

All Music Guide

Emboldened by the positive reaction to 2001's Steers and Stripes, where the venerated veteran country duo stretched their musical chops, Brooks & Dunn followed with a record that pushed even further and garnered greater musical achievement. Released in the summer of 2003, Red Dirt Road is a bit of a concept album, with Brooks & Dunn sketching out a nostalgic trip through their past and a tribute to their roots and upbringing. This isn't just conveyed by the lyrics, which contain offhanded references to '70s icons, including Born to Run; the music touches on a bunch of the duo's formative influences, whether it's the Keith Richards homage that kicks off the album opener, "You Can't Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl," or the Stax horns that punctuate "Believer." Instead of sounding bound to tradition, Brooks & Dunn sound as musically invigorated as they did on Steers and Stripes, demonstrating nuance and muscle in equal measures; after all, they not only do modern country-rock better than their peers, they can pull off a dobro-driven honky tonk song like "My Baby's Everything I Love" with equal aplomb, and then dive into wry satire with the uncredited gospel satire "Holy War" that closes the album. It's not just the amalgam of styles that impresses, but it's the writing, which is as wide-ranging as the performances and just as convincing. Plus, the loose concept gives the album structure and focus, and this, added to the fine songwriting, means that Red Dirt Road is not just one of Brooks & Dunn's most ambitious records, it's also one of their best. Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone

For Brooks and Dunn, traditional country is just a starting place, where you dig deep, then fly high. James Hunter

Entertainment Weekly

For Red Dirt Road, [Brooks & Dunn have] dug even deeper, using autobiography, the musical influences of their teens, and energized roots-rock production. (A-) Alanna Nash

Billboard

In a career marked by success, this fearless duo serves up its coolest record yet. Ray Waddell