Brooks & Dunn Has ‘My Maria’ Covered

Brooks & Dunn’s current hit, “My Maria,” which has taken off the fastest of any in their career, is also the pair’s first cover record.

Which was nearly a problem.

Kix Brooks had known the late B.W. Stevenson, who not only was the co-composer of the song but also its singer when it was a hit the first time around, back in 1973. When Brooks & Dunn co-producer Don Cook suggested it for the duo, Brooks was sold very quickly. He says that in his mind he could hear his partner, Ronnie Dunn, singing lead on it.

Dunn, however, balked. He didn’t like the idea of breaking their string of noncovers.

“Somehow I had the idea that when people start doing covers they’re on the backside of their careers,” he says. “I don’t know why I thought that, because there have been a lot of cases where that wasn’t so.”

Brooks and Cook persuaded Dunn by calling for higher assistance: Arista Records’ Nashville boss Tim DuBois. DuBois came to the recording studio and personally leaned on Dunn to try the Stevenson song.

Now that he has done it and it has taken off so well, Dunn says he really likes it, even its memorable high notes. So does Brooks, who hears his early hunch fulfilled.

“I think Ronnie sounds better than he ever has,” he says.

“My Maria” is the opening song of “Borderline,” B&D’s fourth CD, a collection the pair say they hope combines contemporary kick with lyrical messages that are more traditionally country. Sort of Merle Haggard in overdrive.

“I felt it was time for us to kind of veer off the most traveled path,” Dunn says. “It sure doesn’t hurt, in today’s climate, to step just a little bit over into what the traditionalists might call ‘progressive.”’ “Yet,” says Brooks, “our music demands a certain earthiness, and that’s the balance we went for. There’s a rootsy writing thing going on, but as far as recording goes, it’s full-speed modern.”

High-energy stage performers, B&D appeal to both wings of the duo’s diverse audience.

“People who come to see our shows are often hardcore traditionalists, combined with contemporary rock fans who are used to seeing big productions,” Dunn says. “We saw how these things work back when we were still opening shows for Reba McEntire. People seem to like to have a visual thing meld with the music.”

Tritt touring, recording

Travis Tritt is a busy man.

In April, he’s doing Europe - England, France, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland and Germany in six stops - soon after which he and Marty Stuart will resume their Double Trouble tandem tour of two or three years ago. It starts June 21 in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, Tritt also has been in the recording studios, where he not only cut a high-powered duet with Lorrie Morgan but also has been working on his next album, which is tentatively set for release in August.

Mavericks’ pregnant luck

Mavericks lead singer Raul Malo’s wife, Betty, got pregnant last year at the Grammy Awards, where The Mavericks were nominated.

This year they won one and word is that, yep, she got pregnant again.

The Mavericks, the Country Music Association’s reigning Group of the Year, are scheduled to appear on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” April 18.