Brooks & Dunn Recorded Their Biggest Hit From 2001 in Only Five Minutes

In 2001, Brooks & Dunn released “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You”. The song, part of their Steers & Stripes record, is their most successful single, staying in the No. 1 spot on the country chart for an impressive six weeks. Not only that, but “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” also gave the duo nominations for both a CMA Award and an ACM Award.

Neither Kix Brooks nor Ronnie Dunn wrote “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You”, which was instead written by Tom Shapiro and Rivers Rutherford. An uptempo love song, the chorus of “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” says in part, “The way you kiss, the way you cry / The way you move when you walk by / There ain’t nothing ’bout you / That don’t do something for me.”

Interestingly, when Shapiro and Rutherford wrote “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You”, it was their first writing session. Both songwriters had success already, and neither of them was too excited about the writing appointment. Fortunately, neither of them canceled, and Shapiro and Rutherford wrote the massive hit for Brooks & Dunn.

Shapiro actually had the idea for “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” while in the shower. The two songwriters wrote a verse and chorus of the uptempo song and might have never finished it if not for Shapiro’s assistant, who rightfully suggested it was a hit.

How Brooks & Dunn Almost Missed Recording “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You”

Shapiro and Rutherford finished the song and sent it to Joe Galante, who was the head of their record label at the time. Galante wanted it for Brooks & Dunn, who were heading into the studio to record Steers & Stripes. But not only did Galante want “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” for Brooks & Dunn, but he also wanted it to be their first single. Galante played it for Dunn, who agreed to record the song during their session.

However, Brooks & Dunn only had the studio from 6:00 to 10:00. Their first priority was “Only In America”, a song the two wrote together with Don Cook.

“At 10 till 10, they got the final take on ‘Only In America’,” Shapiro tells The Tennessean. “And Ronnie goes, ‘We’re done,’ and starts walking out. Mark Wright, who’s the producer, says, ‘Well, Joe had asked us to at least (try) this song.’ Ronnie said, ‘OK, we’ve got five minutes. Let’s do it, because after that, I’m gone.’ What you hear on record is the first take.”

After “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You”, Brooks & Dunn followed the song with “Only In America”. The patriotic tune became a one-week No. 1 hit for them.

Photo by Bill Steber/Getty Images

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