Merle Haggard played a pivotal role in convincing Brooks & Dunn to end their hiatus and return to performing together.
Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are the best-selling duo in country music history, with more than 30 million records sold worldwide, 13 studio albums, 20 number-one hits, and a trophy case that includes 32 ACM Awards, 20 CMA Awards, and two Grammys. But after nearly two decades of relentless touring since their 1991 debut, the pair announced in 2010 that they would go their separate ways once The Last Rodeo Tour wrapped. Brooks was clear at the time that there was no bad blood — the two had never argued, let alone fought — but both felt they had taken the partnership as far as it could go. They simply needed, as Brooks would later put it, “a breath.”
Haggard Didn’t Hold Back
What Brooks didn’t anticipate was Merle Haggard’s reaction. In a conversation with RDV-TV, Brooks recalled that Haggard “chewed his butt” over the decision almost immediately. The moment that stuck with him came while the three acts were on tour together, preparing for a sold-out show in Woodstock, New York. Haggard looked out the window at the crowd and turned to Brooks with a blunt question: “What the hell are y’all doing?” When Brooks admitted he wasn’t sure, Haggard pushed further — “All those people out there, why would you stop playing?”
That wasn’t the last time Haggard pressed the issue. Years later, when Brooks sat down with the country legend for an episode of American Country Countdown, Haggard came back around to the same subject. He asked point-blank when the two were getting back together “and doing your job.” When Brooks didn’t have a ready answer, Haggard made his case plainly: “You two got a thing. Everybody doesn’t get that opportunity. There’s no explaining why you two are so successful except you write good songs, and whatever, but at the level you guys have gotten to, don’t waste that. You guys have a thing, and you need to get back to work.”
The Interview That Changed Everything
After that conversation, Brooks sent the interview footage directly to Ronnie Dunn. According to Brooks, that was enough to “really put a fire underneath” both of them. Brooks & Dunn officially reunited in 2015.
The story stands as a rare window into how a single candid conversation with one of country music’s most revered figures helped preserve one of its most decorated partnerships.
