Introduction
From the outside looking in, the country music world appears to be a friendly place. Most artists only have good things to say about their peers and up-and-comers. Almost all of today’s hitmakers pay homage to legacy acts in one way or another. Overall, it seems like a genre full of wholesome interactions. However, Brooks & Dunn have pulled back the curtain and told the world what they say is the truth. Country music is actually highly competitive, and there’s more animosity between artists than friendship.
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Last year, Brooks & Dunn appeared on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast. While there, they talked about the collaborative album, Reboot II, their long career, and more. During their conversation, Ronnie Dunn told Von that everyone in the country music business hates one another.
Brooks & Dunn Reveals the Hate in the Country Music World
“As friendly as they say the world of country music is, it’s so darn competitive,” Ronnie Dunn said while Kix Brooks nodded in agreement. “Everybody hates one another. They act like they don’t on TV,” he added.
Then, Theo Von asked if he really believed that artists in the genre were that competitive. “Oh, heck yeah. Big time competitive,” he replied. “One of my favorite things is Dolly Parton, in an interview years and years ago, she’s talking about somebody and she goes, ‘Oh, honey, there’s room for everybody [in country music].’ No, there’s not. If you want to get down to it, no, there’s not,” he added.
“We can be cool and sit back and go, you know, ‘We don’t care. No big deal. We’re not in it for that. We’re in it for the love.’ That’s not the case,” Dunn said.
Brooks & Dunn have maintained a long and public friendship with Reba McEntire, proving that not all artists in the country music world are so competitive that they can’t be friends.