The two redheads were not strangers to the Minnesota State Fair. Between Reba McEntire and Ronnie Dunn, they've played the grandstand nine times. But there was something strange about their performances Thursday at the Great Minnesota Get-Together.
Neither had elaborate, whiz-bang productions, the kind of bells and whistles they used when they regularly filled the grandstand (McEntire set a then-record of 22,094 in 1994). Still, at this point of their long careers, they each have strong batches of modern country songs; too bad their performances Thursday were more about professionalism than passion.
At 58, Dunn is starting a solo career. After more than two decades with the blockbuster duo Brooks & Dunn, he's done with Brooks. "In the divorce, he got the hot-air balloon," Dunn joked about Kix Brooks and then muttered something about that being appropriate.
How different is it touring solo for the first time? With Brooks & Dunn, it was eight buses and seven semi-trailers; with just Dunn, it's one bus and a slinged back trailer, he explained. The most important difference, though, is the performance. And Dunn was livelier, more animated and happier than he seemed on the B&D farewell tour last year.
The man in black with COWBOY tattooed on his right forearm came out rockin' with a few songs from his new "Ronnie Dunn" CD. "Singin' in a Cowboy Band," the blues-rocker "Let the Cowboy Rock" and the mariachi-tinged two-stepper "How Far To Waco" found him having more fun than on the last few B&D tours.
In his 70-minute set, he did a handful of Brooks & Dunn hits, notably reworking "Neon Moon" as Southern soul fueled by vintage organ, loopy pedal steel guitar and a Tex-Mex guitar solo. But the crowd of 7,140 loved B&D's party hits "Play Something Country" and "Put a Girl in It" and warmed up to the new social-commentary ballads "Cost of Livin'" and "Bleed Red."
McEntire, star of stage, TV and country music, has had an admirable run, with 25 No. 1 country songs -- at least one in each of the last four decades. On Thursday, she walked down an unfancy staircase and offered 22 tunes, including four from last year's album "All the Woman I Am."
McEntire, 56, tended to deliver too many of her hits with the same vocal dynamic, almost as if now she's more actress than singer. However, she demonstrated her vocal prowess on "The Greatest Man I Never Knew," a ballad with more nuance and subtlety; the medley of early hit ballads "Should Somebody Leave" and "For My Broken Heart" followed by the bravura triangle-love duet "Does He Love You," the Kelly Clarkson power-rock ballad "Because of You," and her most recent chart-topper, the feisty "Turn on the Radio," which roared like an '80s rocker.
Near the end of McEntire's set, Dunn joined her. They'd done a couple of tours together in the 1990s, and he joined her on her 2007 duets album. Surprisingly, they did not offer the tune, "Does the Wind Still Blow in Oklahoma" from her project, but rather "Cowgirls Don't Cry," a Brooks & Dunn number featuring her.
Dunn was really into it, getting her to loosen up by ad libbing "hey" at the end of a couple of refrains. Despite the strange song choice, the tall cowboy got the right reaction from the short redhead and the thrilled grandstand crowd.
Set lists: startribune.com/artcetera.
