Brooks & Dunn’s Ronnie Dunn has always wanted to make an album that channels country music from the … [+]
Ronnie Dunn has always wanted to make an album that channels country music from the 1980s and ’90s. It’s the most impressionable era for Dunn, who was playing “bars and beer joints and clubs” around that time. Long before teaming up with Kix Brooks to form Brooks & Dunn, the genre’s most-awarded duo in history, he was simply trying to get off the ground as a solo act during the Urban Cowboy movement.
“I played a club in the house band, and we would get to open for all the acts that were coming through town that were on that level like Johnny Lee from Urban Cowboy, Ricky Skaggs and even George Jones came through there,” Dunn tells me. “Lots of exposure in Tulsa at the time and most of the songs [on the album] represent that era. It’s back when every now and then you could find a jukebox if you went into the right spot.”
Dunn launched his publishing company, Perfect Pitch Publishing, in February and says songwriter Thomas Perkins brought him a half written song that turned into the catalyst for his fifth solo album, 100 Proof Neon, out today. That song – “Broken Neon Hearts” – became the lead single and first track featured on Dunn’s project.
“Thomas Perkins was the first writer that I signed, and he came in with that song half written and demoed,” Dunn says. “The light came on and set the tone because it sounded so much like the era of music that I was trying to capture. I couldn’t go out there and try to push the new trend on the radio. We started with that song, ‘Broken Neon Hearts,’ and then started out writing and putting it all together.”
Dunn’s follow-up single is “Road to Abilene,” a collaboration with fellow Texan Parker McCollum. Dunn wrote the song solo, and the nostalgic ballad showcases his talent as both a lyricist and a vocalist.
Dunn says former Big Machine Label Group executive Braden Carney, who now serves as Executive VP of General Operations at Perfect Pitch Publishing, told him he had to hear McCollum. Impressed by what he heard; Dunn invited McCollum into the studio to record the collaboration.
“His voice is like holy cow,” he says of McCollum. “He’s really good. He wouldn’t be on there if he wasn’t.”
Dunn’s vocals shine throughout the project, especially on “If Love Ever Comes My Way Again.” Penned by Brett and Jim Beavers with Drake Milligan, “If Love Ever Comes My Way Again” features an impressive falsetto from Dunn, who jokes, “I would pinch myself when we would get to the high notes” or “touch something hot.”
“When it came to cut ‘[My] Maria’ years ago I didn’t want to have anything to do with it and the high part of the falsetto was a little, as a singer, intimidating,” he says, recalling Brooks & Dunn’s 1996 No. 1 hit. “So, when this thing came along it’s like, ‘Well, I’ve been there, done that.’ I love it. That could be one of my top two or three songs on there.”
His vocal prowess also is showcased on “The Blade,” a song penned by Allen Shamblin, Marc Beeson and Jamie Floyd, and previously recorded by Ashley Monroe. Dunn says he heard the demo years ago and before he got a chance to put the song on hold, he got word that Monroe decided to record it and make it the title track of her 2015 album.
“I let it go and let it run its course there and she did a great job,” he says. “The song is brilliantly written. … In the middle of all my honky tonk, cowboy, twang and bang insanity someone drops a real cred song in the middle of it. It just fell out of the sky.”
Dunn is no stranger to selecting and writing timeless songs and it’s this experience that he hopes to share with the four writers signed to his publishing company.
“Song sensibility is just something you have to work with from day one, whether I’m writing it or I’m choosing it as an artist,” he says. “I think it’s been a real advantage to have that backlog of experience. It’s fun. I’m not trying to direct them or tell them what to write, how to write or anything, but if they ask for advice and direction on continuity or a word twist or phrase twist here and there, and I’m good to go with it.”
And, every now and then, a writer at Perfect Pitch Publishing has a shot at having a song cut by Dunn himself. So, what’s the advice he gives to aspiring songwriters?
“Be true to where your heart is,” he says. “Don’t get caught up in the corporate fray and do what you do and remember that writing is a muscle, too. Do all you can. Dean Dillon says, ‘Your first 500 songs are probably going to suck but No. 500 is going to probably be better than the first one,’ so keep at it.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anniereuter/2022/07/29/how-a-writer-at-ronnie-dunns-publishing-company-inspired-his-new-album/