Country duo Brooks & Dunn to release crime novel

By John Benson

CLEVELAND (Billboard) - Among the many projects one might expect from country duo Brooks and Dunn, a novel probably wouldn't top the list.

But "The Adventures of Slim and Howdy," a comic crime novel inspired by the alter egos they developed in their albums' liner notes, will hit stores on May 12.

The duo enlisted the help of southern humorist Bill Fitzhugh "because we're not novelists, even though I feel like we did come up with a couple of good characters," said Kix Brooks.

He recalled that when he and cohort Ronnie Dunn were getting together in the early '90s, they realized they shared a youthful passion for liner notes, and decided to create their own "little adventure story."

Within a few albums, Brooks and Dunn had created their alter egos Slim (Dunn) and Howdy (Brooks), two underappreciated honky tonk entertainers. Eventually there was talk of maybe doing a short story Christmas book, but nothing ever came to fruition.

Brooks said he and Dunn wanted the novel to be more in the vein of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" than "The Dukes of Hazzard" -- "(not) too heavy, but at the same time (with) a good sense of humor."

Brooks & Dunn, meanwhile, just released their latest single, "Put a Girl in It," the third from their 2007 album, "Cowboy Town."

"We've probably got another year's worth of music off of this album," Brooks said. "In fact, the tour will be interesting this year because we have half a dozen stadium deals with (Kenny) Chesney, but starting in August we're going to tour with ZZ Top for like 28 shows."