Brooks & Dunn will return to the ACM Awards stage on Sunday, April 7, to perform a song from their upcoming Reboot album. The duo, made up of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, last won an ACM Award in 2016, for their role in the “Forever Country” video.
Brooks & Dunn also held the record for the most ACM Awards trophies until 2018, when Miranda Lambert set a new record by winning her 32nd award, three more than Brooks & Dunn‘s 29 wins.
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“Reba last year had such a big time telling the world that Miranda surpassed us with awards at the ACMs,” Brooks recalled to PopCulture.com at a recent media event. “She was so giddy about it. ‘Oh and I’ve got some news. Miranda just passed Brooks & Dunn. I bet they hate that [laughs].’”
Regardless of Lambert topping their record, the guys have nothing but fond memories about the ACM Awards.
“That was our first awards ever,” Brooks recalled. “We won our first two awards at the ACMs in ’91. It was a huge boost to our career, our sales. I remember we had – our album may have gone No. 1 that week, so that would have been our third single – and our sales doubled that week, and things just really took off. So we got a real sweet spot in our hearts for the ACMs. It will be fun to get back there.”
Not that Brooks & Dunn are lacking accolades. The duo was just announced as inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame, considered to be the pinnacle of any country music career.
“Obviously I think we owe each other a lot, and the major part of our recognition came from whatever it was that we did together and had together, and we’d never been able to describe that or explain that,” Brooks told PopCulture.com. “That whole thing is just weird. We get introduced and we jump in a rocket ship and take off, especially when we did. We’ve both been around town and it’s not like we haven’t been singing or had record deals or any of that stuff. Why this worked, I don’t know.
“It’d be nice, I think, if we both could have done a lot of stuff individually,” he continued. “Someday, and I think people that are fans of ours kind of know the stuff we do as individuals. I’m proud to go in with Ronnie. We made a big old mess out there for 20 years, and it was a lot of fun. And I look back on it with a big smile on my face. It’s like I don’t know how the hell that happened, but man, I guess it did or we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
Reboot, which includes collaborations of some of their biggest hits with artists like Luke Combs, Kacey Musgraves, Brett Young, Ashley McBryde and more, will be released on April 5.
The 2019 ACM Awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, April 7, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Photo Credit: Getty/ Rick Diamond
