AMG Review of Borderline

Michael McCall
All Music Guide

Brooks & Dunn get a lot of mileage out of two potent personalities. Ronnie Dunn's expressive voice, underrated even with the band's huge success, and Kix Brooks' energized stage presence give even their routine material enough of a spin to earn them their status as country music's leading duet team of the '90s. With Borderline, their fourth album, they sometimes have to strain a bit too hard. The primary exception is an outstanding cover of B.W. Stevenson's 1972 pop hit, "My Maria," which Dunn elevates with an outstanding vocal performance that puts him in a league with the Mavericks' Raul Malo. There's a powerful ballad or two and an entertaining novelty number about a wife bluntly persuading her man that they are going out on the town that night.