Brooks & Dunn haven’t released an album of new material since 2007’s Cowboy Town, but when you have a catalog as impressive as theirs, it can be okay to coast on past glories. Especially when many of today’s hottest artists — Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll — are willing to sing the old hits. That’s the premise of Reboot II, a sequel to 2019’s Reboot, which assembles 18 Nashville stars to put their own spin on songs like “Neon Moon,” “Believe,” and “Hillbilly Deluxe,” with an assist from B&D themselves.
Ronnie Dunn has said the premise of Reboot II was “no rules,” and, for the most part, removing the guardrails was a good thing — but there are a still few car crashes.
The best moments on the project come either from vocalists who can hold their own with Dunn (at 71, still in possession of one of country’s greatest set of pipes), or from inspired musical reinvention. Megan Moroney’s version of “Ain’t Nothing ’Bout You” benefits from both. The Georgia singer’s hushed delivery set to plaintive piano turns the previously muscular love song into one of pained heartbreak, and Dunn gamely follows Moroney’s lead into emo-country territory.
Wallen does something similar on “Neon Moon,” dropping his inherent swagger to lean hard into loneliness; it’s arguably one of his best recorded performances. Riley Green’s forlorn “She Use to Be Mine” and Mitchell Tenpenny’s soulful “That Ain’t No Way to Go” also set aside machismo in favor of genuine emotion, to winning results. Jake Worthington, however, doesn’t change a thing: His twangy reading of “I’ll Never Forgive My Heart” is as honest as he is, a true slice of Texas honky-tonk. Likewise, Hailey Whitters is faithful to the original arrangement of “She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind,” evoking Nineties country in all its polish.
A few tracks get full left-field reinventions. The Cadillac Three slow down Kix Brooks’ “She Likes to Get Out of Town” to codeine-coma levels, capturing the Nashville rock trio at their most funky. Earls of Leicester, Jerry Douglas’s bluegrass supergroup, render “How Long Gone” as a high, lonesome gallop, highlighting the string-music roots that run through country music. And Halestorm, the Nashville-based heavy-metal band, transform “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” into a thumping scream-along, thanks to vocalist Lzzy Hale’s banshee wail. Dunn is right there in lockstep with her, making for the most fun (and insane) track on Reboot II.
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But scream-country doesn’t work elsewhere on Reboot II. Hardy, one of the genre’s most adventurous new artists, fumbles “Hillbilly Deluxe” into a cacophonous mess, stripping the original of its irresistible groove. Warren Zeiders also whiffs on “Brand New Man,” choosing a tired whisper-shout arrangement. (Nickelback’s influence on today’s country has never been more apparent than in Hardy and Zeiders’ versions.)
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Like many country albums these days, Reboot II suffers most from its overlong tracklist. The first Reboot had 12 tight tracks; the sequel clocks in at 18 and features six B&D classics that were already covered by different artists on 2019’s Reboot. It’s more “rerun“ than Reboot.
Jelly Roll is tasked with one those retreads with “Believe.” The country rapper reimagines Kane Brown’s gospel reading of the ballad into … his own gospel reading. It’s right in Jelly Roll’s wheelhouse, and he acquits himself of it admirably, but we’ve heard it all before. “This can’t be all there is,” Jelly sings near song’s end. For Brooks & Dunn, country’s biggest selling duo, let’s hope not. There has to be something new.
