Arista
2007
Cowboy Town
About This Album
Brooks & Dunn began revving up their redneck credentials with Hillbilly Deluxe, a record with no small debt to Big & Rich's gonzo strut, and they continue that path on its 2007 follow-up, Cowboy Town. Despite the title, Cowboy Town doesn't feel that western -- it's a slick, swaggering set of rock & roll, designed for sports bars, not honky tonks. Brooks & Dunn have always teetered between being just a bit too commercial and thoroughly country, but this is one of their efforts where the seesaw tips toward one direction definitively, as this album is as oversized as Texas without sounding a lick like the Lonestar State. Well, there's one exception to the rule -- Jerry Jeff Walker is roped in for a duet on "Ballad of Jerry Jeff Walker," an exceptional homage to his funny, loping signature sound that's easily the best thing here, and not because it's the most country: it's because it's the least mannered tune here. The other highlights on Cowboy Town share a similar wild, wooly spirit, as the duo turns out pretty good Stonesy rockers on "Put a Girl in It" and "Chance of a Lifetime" (which has a nice dip into John Anderson territory on the chorus), grinds out a wonderfully weird slice of ZZ Top boogie on "Drop in the Bucket," and pumps out a deliriously fun "Tequila," whose pumping Farfisa organ on a one-chord riff can't help but bring to mind the Sir Douglas Quintet.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10)

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