#1s...and Then Some

Personnel: Mark Casstevens (acoustic guitar); Billy Gibbons (electric guitar, background vocals); Kenny Greenberg, J.T. Corenflos , Bryan Sutton (electric guitar); Gary Morse (steel guitar); Tim Lauer (keyboards); Lonnie Wilson, Shawn Fichter (drums); Wes Hightower (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Jeff Balding; Joe Hardy.
Liner Note Author: Judy Forde-Blair.
Photographer: Russ Harrington.
Three weeks before the release of this double-disc best-of-and-then-some collection, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who as Brooks & Dunn were one of the most successful duos in country music history, decided to call it a day after 19 years, 40 singles (half of which topped the country charts), ten studio albums, and a slew of awards. As far as the industry was concerned, they went out on top. #1s... AND THEN SOME contains 30 tracks spread over two discs and includes two new songs. Disc One opens with Ronnie Dunn and Terry McBride's barroom/stadium rock killer "Honky Tonk Stomp," which features special guest guitar blazer Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and Disc Two opens with the pair's own "Indian Summer," a midtempo ballad that's as fine a summation of their collective career as listeners are likely to get. Dozens of familiar cuts are here, from B & D's first smash "Boot Scootin' Boogie" to the gorgeous cover of B.W. Stevenson's "My Maria" plus a slew of other hits and B-side--including "Cowgirls Don't Cry" and "If You See Him/If You See Her," both with Reba McEntire. While it's true that many of these tracks have been collected on the two previous hits collections, this is the first time that all the Number Ones have been in one place, and it's the best argument there is for the legacy they leave behind.