Arista's B&d Set Ties In With Reba

NASHVILLE‹On the heels of their successful greatest-hits package, Brooks & Dunn are set to deliver their most artistically ambitious collection to date with the June 2 release of "If You See Her."
The title takes its name from the current single the duo recorded with Reba McEntire, "If You See Her/If You See Him." Her album, "If You See Him," also comes out June 2. Arista and MCA are working in tandem to promote the projects.
"I think it's an incredibly strong album," Arista/Nashville president Tim DuBois says of Brooks & Dunn's new set. "Any time an artist comes to the point where they can legitimately have a greatest-hits album, it's time to look back and reflect a little bit, then forge forward. I think that's exactly what the guys have done with this album."
Resting on their laurels isn't an option. "There is nothing comfortable about it," Brooks says. "We're as scared to death as we were when the first single came out. We're much more familiar with failure than we are with success."
One of the more intriguing cuts is "Born And Raised In Black & White," written by Don Cook and John Barlow Jarvis. It is about two brothers‹one a convicted murderer, the other a preacher, with Brooks taking the former role and Dunn the latter. "It's the first time the duet has really been a duet," says DuBois.
The album was co-produced by Brooks, Dunn, and Don Cook, with the exception of the duet with McEntire, which was produced by DuBois and MCA Nashville president Tony Brown. Brooks takes the lead on "South Of Santa Fe," which DuBois describes as a "great story song." Brooks co-wrote the song with Paul Nelson and Larry Boone. "It once again chases that Southwest thing Ronnie and I have always done," Brooks says.
Dunn sings lead on "I Can't Get Over You," which DuBois describes as a "classic Ronnie Dunn thing." The duo also does an appealing cover of Roger Miller's "Husbands And Wives," which Dunn says came about on the spur of the moment.
DuBois says there are two layers of marketing for the album. "First, there's been an unprecedented kind of cooperation between us and MCA," he says. "I don't think anything like this has ever been tried before, where two major labels worked to line up their calendars and line up their muscle behind a single and have simultaneous album releases."
The second layer of the campaign will focus on the album as whole. "We always work it from the angle of using Kix and Ronnie to do what they do most effectively," DuBois says. "They do press great, and they do any kind of public appearance thing great. And we'll be out there pricing and positioning and doing all the stuff we hope we do great."
DuBois admits it's an unusual move for Arista and MCA to release both Brooks & Dunn's and McEntire's albums on the same day. "Both companies are aware we may split the market a little bit," DuBois says. "We may sell, in the first few weeks, a bit less than if it were just one of us coming with an album, because there will be some people that come in and just buy the song. They're not going to buy Kix and Ronnie and Reba both. It's such an event, we're hoping two plus two equals five."
DuBois says premiering the song on the Academy of Country Music Awards show was a big boost. The single moves to No. 19 this issue on Hot Country Singles & Tracks.
"I think it's going to be a huge No. 1 smash for them," says KZLA-FM Los Angeles PD John Sebastian. "It's a very powerful song, and I think their rendition of it and their articulation of it‹both Reba and Brooks & Dunn‹is excellent. I think it's a home run."
KSON San Diego PD Mike Shepard agrees. "I think it's an adrenaline shot for the format," he says. "It's an event record. It sounds great on the radio, and it's caused lots of excitement. This has done a lot for the format, and I think it's going to do a lot for them as well."
With two labels and two major acts involved, there was a lot to be worked out in order for the single to happen. Dunn says he was hesitant about the two acts touring again. "I felt like once was enough; make it an event, and go on from there," he says. "Everyone else wanted to take it into a second year because it had been so successful. I felt like if it was going to be so successful again, it needed a shot in the arm. Not that there was any indication of it losing momentum at all, but we needed something musically different. We needed an event song."
Songwriters Tommy Lee James, Jennifer Kimball, and Terry McBride provided the tune. According to Dunn, James took it McEntire, and McBride brought it to Brooks & Dunn. Dunn says McEntire put it on hold first and in the beginning wasn't sure whom she was going to duet with.
Dunn credits DuBois with getting all parties involved and making the duet happen.
"There was some question at one point in time whether we were going to be able to do this, whether or not the two acts were going to be able to line up their scheduling for both touring and for recording purposes," he says. "There was a chance that it might have slipped away and gone to somebody else, and I fought very strongly to not let that happen. In the end, we were able to nail things down and get them done. Once it was decided we were going to do it, there's been nothing but total cooperation on both sides."
The two acts resume touring July 15 and go through the end of the year. Dunn says the duo is also working on a CBS-TV special recognizing the 50th anniversary of NASCAR.
Brooks & Dunn are managed by Titley/Spalding & Associates and booked by the William Morris Agency.