Kix Brooks Divulges the Heart-to-Heart Behind ‘Red Dirt Road’ on Phil Vassar’s ‘Songs From the Cellar’ [Exclusive Video]
A heart-to-heart between bandmates Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn resulted in one of the signature songs of Brooks & Dunn's award-winning career. Brooks shares that story with fellow artist Phil Vassar during the Season 2 premiere episode of Vassar's Songs From the Cellar TV show.
A 2003 No. 1 song for Brooks & Dunn, "Red Dirt Road" is the title track of the duo's eighth studio album, released that same year. Actually, the phrase was the record's title before it was a song, Brooks tells Vassar.
"It was one of the few times that we really got serious about where we came from and started talking about our grandparents and all that kind of good stuff," Brooks recalls of the moment that led to the hit tune. He and Dunn became a duo in Nashville, but they're from Louisiana and Texas, respectively, so their conversation about their childhoods included memories of -- you guessed it -- red dirt roads.
"We just started talking about, 'Remember how red that dirt was?'" Dunn adds. "And we said, 'Man, we've gotta call our album that.' And it was like, 'Cool. We've probably gotta write a song then, too,'" he continues, to a chuckle from Vassar.
Brooks is one of a dozen special guests set for Songs From the Cellar's second season. The show is filmed in the wine cellar in Vassar's Nashville-area home; the estate itself is nearly 100 years old, but the artist completed the underground wine room in 2015.
Vassar began Songs From the Cellar in 2019; the show aired on PBS during its first season but has moved to the Circle Network for its second one. The hit country songwriter is an ACM Top New Male Vocalist winner and a two-time ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year. His career as an artist includes 10 No. 1 singles and 26 Top 40 songs, but Vassar has also written big hits for Tim McGraw ("My Next Thirty Years"), Blackhawk ("Postmarked Birmingham"), Jo Dee Messina ("Alright") and more.
Season 2 of Songs From the Cellar premieres on Thursday (Sept. 10) at 8PM ET. New episodes featuring Abby Anderson, Brothers Osborne, Kyle Daniel, Larry Gatlin, Vince Gill, Kellie Pickler, actor Dennis Quaid, Steve Wariner, Craig Wiseman and rapper Chingy with Meg & Tyler will air each week.
“I’m so glad we kick off Season 2 with my good buddy Kix Brooks in the cellar!" Vassar tells The Boot. "This episode was so much fun. He’s a guy who knows a lot about wine and a lot about music … two of my favorite things."
LOOK: 50 Country Songs Everyone Must Hear Before They Die