TULSA, OK. (Brooks & Dunn Official Website) - The dance floor is spring-loaded and the luminaries of old school honky tonk have all played there. So when
Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks took the stage at the legendary Cain's Ballroom - quite possibly the honky tonk equivalent of the Filmore West - it was standing room only, and an obvious culmination of the hardest core honky tonkers 14 year odyssey from journeyman musicians to 4x Entertainers of the Year.
"There's something about this place," said
Ronnie Dunn from the stage, "that so much music has just come through here. From Bob Wills to the
Sex Pistols to whatever's happening now, so many acts that have had an impact have passed through here - and you can feel that vibe when you walk in the place."
For Dunn, it had been a three-decade route. Although coming of age on the fringes on the axis of the JJ Cale/Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker/Delaney & Bonnie/Lost Dogs & Englishmen and Leon Russell worlds, the power singer had never played the celebrated home of Bob Wills.
"I've got a contract for us to open for Hank Loughlan," Dunn admits with a laugh. "It was for $200 - and it ended up getting cancelled, but I kept the contract… I mean, THAT was history, and whether we played or not, that was my proof that I'd been asked."
Opening with the seminal coming of age anthem "Red Dirt Road" and drawing on the hits people would obviously expect - "Brand New Man," "My Maria," "Rock My World (Little Country Girl)," "You Can't Take The Honky Tonk Out of the Girl," the record-setting duo also drew on some of the more traditional songs they've cut - "We'll Burn That Bridge When We Get There," "Got A Lot To Learn," "Used To Be Me Mine." In addition to performing the fastest rising single of their career, the blistering turbo-honk tonk "Play Something Country" and "Get Out Of Town" from the duo's upcoming Aug 30 release.
"It was a big fun night," admits Brooks - who sent an audience member to the t-shirt stand with a $100 bill to pick out 4 more shirts and finish paying for the one he'd bought but hadn't had the money for earlier in the day. "A place like Cain's is all history. It's one of those legendary bar rooms where you know everybody's played, EVERYODY, so you're just thrilled to be part of it, so you can join the club."
In keeping with the historic overtones of returning to Tulsa, the pair also played many of the songs written when Dunn was a solo artist waiting on the dream, including "Neon Moon," "Boot Scoot Boogie," "Hard Working Man." And it all stands to be seen as part of a pair of CMT specials coming up later this summer - a compare and contrast take on the new series "Homecoming" and a no-punches-pulled, no-bells-and-whistles, music-first/white-hot concert special to coincide with the release of the previously mentioned August 30 album project.
