IN THE SPOTLIGHT

they hadn’t been in the studio together for a decade. But the two Grammywinning artists said getting back in the studio together felt very natural.

“It’s like riding a bike,” Dunn said. “Just get out there and knock the rust off of it.”

Some of their collaborators wanted to stick close to the original recordings, but others like Brothers Osborne and Musgraves came up with new twists on the classics.

“It’s good to see these songs that you’ve written or been a part of morph and take on a different place and live through it,” Dunn said.

“There’s identifiable licks and whatever in your songs and if you don’t abandon a lot of the core of what was in those original recordings, you can do some fun stuff,” Brooks said.

The first two songs to be released from the project are “Brand New Man” with Combs and “Believe” with Brown, with the full track listing to be announced later.

The two still perform outside of Las Vegas, mostly at festivals, but their residency with McEntire is the longestrunning current country residency in Sin City now that they’ve added more shows in 2019. Many top-tier acts like Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Cardi B are putting down roots at the city’s casinos and theaters this year as well.

MARK HUMPHREY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS In this file photo, Kix Brooks, left, and Ronnie Dunn of the country music duo Brooks & Dunn, talk about their decision to stop performing together as they answer questions from the audience during a television taping in Nashville, Tenn.