Brooks and Dunn’s third album was released in September 1994. Produced like the first two by Don Cook and Scott Hendricks. In theory, Kix and Ronnie had equal billing, each singing lead on five songs, but Ronnie’s lead vocals were showcased on four of the five singles. This may have been the right decision commercially, as all five reached the top ten, with three of them topping the chart.Leadoff single, ‘She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind’, which was both written and sung by Ronnie, deservedly went to #1, a forceful ballad about a woman who’s “been cheated one too many times” and is out to see what else might be out here. On the album it leads into the similarly themed story song ‘Silver And Gold’, the only outside song on the set. It was written by Michael Lunn and Michael Noble and is sung by Kix, offering another picture of an unhappily married woman who leaves nothing behind but her jewelry, symbols which have “lost their shine”. It’s just as good a song as ‘She’s Not The Cheatin’ Kind’, but Kix’s vocal is not as good as Ronnie’s.
‘I’ll Never Forgive My Heart’ is my personal favorite of the singles from this album, but it was the least successful, reaching only #6 on Billboard. It is one of the most traditional country sounding of their recordings, with some lovely steel and fiddle, an excellent, emotion-filled vocal from Ronnie, and a well-written slightly melancholy lyric about a breaking heart courtesy of Ronnie, his wife Janine, and Dean Dillon, with many of the hallmarks of a Dillon song in the structure and phrasing.
‘Little Miss Honky Tonk’, the album’s opening track, restored the duo to the top of the chart, and is a lively Ronnie Dunn rocker with rather generic lyrics, which was probably more what radio expected from the duo. ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone’ followed it to #1, and has the distinction of being the only one of the duo’s #1 singles to boast a lead vocal from Kix. Written by Kix, Ronnie, and Don Cook, it is a relatively subdued song about a marriage about to break up, with a defeated feeling, which actually suits Kix’s pained vocals. While he is not as exceptional a singer as his partner, he isn’t bad on the right material, like this song, where Kix sounds as though he’s not really fooling himself by the words of the title.
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