Earlier this year, Brooks and Dunn released the cover art for their highly anticipated “Reboot” album. The cover included the name of artists that were going to appear on the album. They also released two tracks from the album, one with Luke Combs and one with Kane Brown. After I heard those songs, I thought this album would be something special.
The full album came out today and it’s a fresh way of doing a greatest hits album. They have picked 12 of the best songs from their career and invited some of country’s hottest artists and bands to join them on the songs. I’m generally cautious when it comes to collaborative albums. I have heard too many where there are two or three big names and a lot of people who aren’t recognizable on their own.
That’s not true in this case. The only act who hasn’t been on mainstream radio is Tyler Booth. I was familiar with him because he was on Brantley Gilbert’s Kick It In The Ship Cruise last year. I already knew how talented he was and he didn’t disappoint with his version of “Lost and Found” on this album.
I have to give a lot of credit the all the artists on this album because the all turned in great vocal performances. They were tasked with singing one of the most iconic songs in modern country music with the artists that made those songs popular.
It was not at all a surprise that the winners of this year’s ACM Best New Male Artist (Luke Combs), ACM Best New Female Artist (Ashley McBryde) and ACM Best New Group (LANCO) appear on the album. The awards were announced after the tracks had been recorded, so that was a case of picking the best of the best for the album.
Other artists appearing on “Reboot” include Grammy Winner Kacey Musgraves, Brett Young, Jon Pardi, Brothers Osborne, Thomas Rhett, Cody Johnson and Midland.
The versions of these songs don’t sound exactly the same as they did when they were originally released, but they are close. I think even the most die-hard Brooks and Dunn fans will be happy. At the same time, they are modern enough to introduce the songs to new generation.
Rick Amburgey is an experienced journalist and country music fan. He can be contacted on Twitter at @ViewsCountry.