kix-brooks-speaks-out-ronnie-dunn-defending-blake-shelton-over-minimum-wage-backlash

Kix Brooks Speaks Out About Ronnie Dunn Defending Blake Shelton Over ‘Minimum Wage’ Backlash

Blake Shelton’s been making headlines for his recent single, “Minimum Wage.” It’s Shelton’s lyrics that has some fans twisted up. But it is other artists that have come to his defense. One, in particular, is Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn. Now, Kix Brooks is addressing the situation in our “The Road You Leave Behind with Marty Smith” podcast.

Kix Brooks kicks off the transition about working too hard on one of the duo’s hit songs, “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone.” Marty Smith asks Brooks about the song and its impact that it’s had on people. Brooks starts with a story of how songwriting and lyrics aren’t always well perceived by fans.

“Well, it’s interesting because, and like, night before last I was actually talking to my wife about this. It was maybe the blow up on Blake [Shelton] I think recently. People giving him a hard time about writing a song, you know, about working-class minimum wage or whatever it is. Ronnie [Dunn] came to his defense,” Brooks starts telling Smith. Brooks then remembers the time he wrote a song that wasn’t well-received by all of his fans.

“It’s funny because the first single off my solo project that, when Ronnie and I took a break, I got beat up for writing a song about, you know, missing a girl, a girl that left me. Because I’m in a happy marriage,” the singer-songwriter explains. “I was talking to Barbara I said, ‘ You know, it’s weird because, as a writer, you shouldn’t be encumbered that way because you’re wiring for you but you’re writing for everybody else.’”

Kix Brooks Explains His Songwriting Process

Kix Brooks also points out that “You’re Going to Me Miss Me When I’m Gone” is another example of one of these songs.

“A song like ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ it’s interesting because, I’m singing it so I’m talking and singing it to some girl, you know. But women love this song. They immediately take this song of their own. It’s like when [Travis] Tritt is saying, ‘ Here’s a quarter. Call someone who cares.’ Women immediately owned that song,” Brooks explains.

He then shares that he often consults his wife, Barbara, on songs that he writes.

“I told Barbara, I said, ‘I gotta tell you, sometimes when I’m down here writing, when you’re wanting to write a cheating song, or you’re wanting to write a heartbreak song or something, sometimes you start second-guessing yourself because she’s one of the first people I’m going to play it for, you know.”

Brooks continues explaining, “I said, ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ is that way. I said, ‘You’ve heard me sing that song a million times and on stage, but I have to ignore the fact that I’m not saying it to you.’ That’s the first place in my brain that goes to. I have to take her out of that equation and think about some memory back when I was in high school or college when some girl really dumped on me.”

Ronnie Dunn Defends Blake Shelton

Blake Shelton first debuted his new single, “Minimum Wage” during NBC’s New Year’s Eve celebration event. However, what came next is probably not how the country singer wanted to start 2021. This one lyric is why fans are saying Shelton is “tone-deaf.”

“Girl, your love can make a man feel rich on minimum wage,” is the song lyric that fans are upset about. They felt that it’s insensitive to the current pandemic the world is in. Especially since so many people have lost their jobs.

Though, Ronnie Dunn is offering up how he feels about Shelton’s new tune.

“The ‘beef’ is yet another of those misguided social issue (cultural scams) that are concocted to further divide this country,” Dunn shares in a tweet. “I’m putting my money on the common sense of the common man to call bullsh-t on the forces at work to keep this country divided.”

He continues to explain how many country artists pay their dues by playing gigs for next-to-nothing at dive bars. Dunn asks his fans and followers to read the full lyrics of “Minimum Wage” before they make their assumptions. Then he signs off with, “hell, I wish I’d written it.”

As a matter of fact, Blake Shelton didn’t write the song. Nicolle Galyon, Corey Crowder, and Jess Frasure wrote it, according to CMT. But Shelton told CMT he really related to its lyrics. 

Furthermore, the critics and comments aren’t bothering Shelton much. He says, “I just feel like these days, there are people out there who don’t want to know the truth. They just want to hear what they want to hear, and they want to pick a fight.”

For more about Kix Brooks and other artists, watch the full video podcasts on Outsider’s Youtube and be sure to listen on Apple Podcasts (below).