Brooks & Dunn Cowboy Town

Brooks and Dunn are almost single-handedly responsible for the rise of acts like Big 'n' Rich, Toby Keith, and the rest of the post-millennium country-rock gang. On 2007's COWBOY TOWN, Brooks and Dunn make plain their role at the pivot point between the rowdy present and the outlaw country past. Specifically, the wry "The Ballad of Jerry Jeff Walker" (featuring a cameo vocal by the beloved Texas cult hero himself) and the hagiographic "Johnny Cash Junkie (Buck Owens Freak)" acknowledge the duo's enormous debt to their country-rock forebears. Elsewhere, ballads like "Proud of the House We Built," "American Dreamers," and "Cowgirls Don't Cry" fit nicely against more revved up honky tonkers like "Drunk On Love" and the rollicking title track. The closing number "God Must Be Busy" caps off COWBOY TOWN with an atypically thoughtful and subtly political song about the state of the union circa 2007 that's far from jingoistic blather, proving yet again that Brooks and Dunn are no ordinary country boys.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Country