Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn have certainly established themselves as a force in country music. They've sold 25 million albums, scored 23 #1 hits, heard their names called Entertainer of the Year four times and set all kinds of other winning streaks. They've sponsored race cars, graced Corn Flakes' boxes and pioneered a torqued up brand of honky tonk music that's been called "the heart of Saturday night."

Red Dirt Road, their latest, is a record that's a lifetime in the making -- culling from the influences of their disparate youths; Dunn in Arkansas/Texas/Oklahoma and Brooks the swampy backwater of Louisiana. It's a country thing, but it's also deep gospel, soul, bluegrass, raw rock and beyond, and has been singled out by The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, USA Today, The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly, among others, for its recognition that music springs from the roots of one's life as it's lived.

Brooks made an important discovery about music's roots on his grandfather's dairy farm. "The guys who worked there -- for them the music was all spirituals. . . From the few chords that I'd learned, I realized country and the blues were from the same roots."

Both men are secure in their understanding of the overlap of the genres. It fired up their will to push country's edges, maybe make it a little dangerous again. "Music always has that dangerous element of seduction to it," says Dunn, "which keeps you on edge all the time. Heck, even Willie Nelson admitted he picked up a guitar to get girls!" Dunn adds. "When you nail a song, it's like racing a car...you get this pure adrenaline rush, especially when you hear that roar from the crowd. That's what we're pushing for! We want to do to the crowd what we want to do to ourselves: have as much fun as we can, give everyone a release, let 'em feel a bunch of emotions and send 'em home exhausted."

Hold on to your seats, Farm Aid fans, 'cause Brooks and Dunn are going to rock the stage like only a couple of full grown men can.