Okay so I’m behind on the “breaking news” front. I’ve always been a procrastinator. And, I’m not a huge country music fan. I mean, I like a lot of country groups, have a lot of favorite songs that are country, but I don’t really follow any group or artist closely, so this shocked me when I heard it. This group is probably one of, if not the, best duos of country music history, and they’re just quitting? Seriously?
Brooks & Dunn, who I really haven’t liked all that much, a few songs, but not so much that I’d buy a whole CD, are breaking up after 20 years together. (Statement from their official website is here.)
If you ask me, this is not really a smart move. I mean, I hope they both have enough money saved up for life, and have invested wisely, because I personally don’t see either one of them succeeding as a single’s artist – they both tried before they came together as a group, without success. And if they do release music as single artists, the sales would probably just be riding the reputation of the group, and not the actual new material.
Don’t get me wrong, I think they are good, but I think they are good together; the reason they are popular is the way they sing together, the sound it produces is unique in country music. I’ve seen them perform live, and trust me, they don’t do that well; they are often very off key (of course, this can be said of 95% of the artists today, if not more – without computer tuning in studio, the majority of “singers” would have no careers at all), and I just can’t see them going solo and having the same kind of success. Maybe that’s cynical of me, but if you look at the stats for successful groups that later broke up, to put out solo material, not very many solo artists went on to become anywhere near as big as the groups they were part of. Sad, but true.
I think the other thing that bothers me about it is all the fans of theirs that are so disappointed by this news. It is one thing to retire altogether, but to break up a 20 year successful duo just to go do solo work? I just don’t get it…
Of course, maybe they could pull a Garth Brooks, and “retire” for a few years, and then get back together. 
Lordy knows enough groups have done that!