With the possible exception of Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart," Brooks & Dunn's 1992 mega-hit, "Boot Scootin' Boogie," did more to establish a big country audience for dance numbers than any other song. Today country fans often seem divided between an older crowd that likes to sit in its seats and listen to a heartbreaking ballad and a younger crowd that prefers to jump out of its seats and scoot their boots across the dance floor. Brooks & Dunn may be pioneers of the country-dance movement, but they refuse to take sides in this debate. Waitin' on Sundown is diplomatically divided between uptempo rabble-rousers, kicked along by a loud snare drum, and slow, sentimental confessions, underscored by a pedal steel guitar. As a result, the popular twosome reflects the balance in contemporary mainstream country as well as anyone. --Geoffrey Himes
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