Peace Love and Country Music

After ending a 20-year tenure on Arista that began with his hitmaking duo Brooks & Dunn, Ronnie Dunn released his most personal album ever, Peace Love and Country Music. While his self-titled debut solo outing hewed a bit closer to the sound he'd established with his old partner Kix Brooks, the follow-up, though not wildly divergent, gets simultaneously rougher around the edges and more introspective. On his first release as a sexagenarian, Dunn shows that maturity means a lot more than just getting older, especially on the anthemic "Grown Damn Man" and the wistful "I Wish I Still Smoked Cigarettes." He also happens to rock harder than ever, on "Country This," a long-overdue takedown of country artists who try too hard to play the down-home card. On "Let's Get the Beer Joint Rockin'" and "Country Music in Texas," Dunn shows off his own honky-tonking barroom bona fides, and his cover of the classic "You Don't Know Me" tellingly taps into not only the old-school country roots of the Eddy Arnold original but also the soulful splendor of the famous Ray Charles version.