BY RAHUL PRABHAKAR

As one half of the superstar duo Brooks & Dunn, Kix Brooks has charted 20 number one country singles and sold over 30 million records. Additionally, he has served as both Chairman and President of the Country Music Association. During a visit to Harvard, Brooks stopped to chat with the HPR about the past, present, and future of his relationship with Nashville.

Harvard Political Review: How did you come to Nashville when you started?

Kix Brooks: I was invited by my roommate in high school. He had a big connection that way and I knew I wanted to be a full-time musician. I was on my way from Maine, where I worked with my sister when I got right out of school, and I wanted to go to New Orleans. I always just wanted to prove to myself that I could cut it in the jazz scene—you know, that I was that good a musician, which I wasn’t. I had visited Jodie, my roommate, on the way, and we stayed up all night playing songs and he encouraged me to come and be a professional songwriter in Nashville, where he was working for a publishing company.

I was writing some songs, but the thought of being Kris Kristofferson never crossed my mind, until I did seventy-two nights in New Orleans, at which point I felt like I could probably do anything. I called him up and asked him, “Do you really think I could cut it as a writer?” and he said, “Absolutely, get up here.” So I did, I went to Nashville. I think within about a year, I had my first song recorded, and had my first number one record within a year and a half. At that point, a publisher actually gave me a draw and I was technically a professional songwriter. I wrote songs for ten years for a living before I met Ronnie [Dunn].

HPR: Given your past leadership role as head of the Country Music Association, are you interested in serving in public office?

KB: I really don’t have any desire to run for office, but I truly enjoy working within politics. I learned a tremendous amount with Mayor [Bill] Purcell. Leverage and relationships are key. Sometimes trying and get something done without either one of those things is virtually impossible because everybody has their own agenda. You do have to learn to give and take.

HPR: Now that that you’ve been in Nashville for some time now, how have you seen the city change? Or does it still retain the same core of the city you’ve always known?

KB: When I came to Nashville, downtown was as scary and dark a place as you could imagine. Nashville seemed so seedy and Broadway was a bunch of porn shops and Printer’s Alley, which I had heard so much about, was a place you’d be lucky to get out of without getting beat up. That part of it, honestly, was a disappointment to me. I had this dream like so many people do when they come to Nashville, with a guitar case and some songs under my arm. It was really frightening.

But a transformation began to happen. Mayor Purcell took it to a whole new level. They worked so hard at turning the whole downtown around and it really inspired me. As I began to be part of the leadership of the Country Music Association, we saw an opportunity to take what was called Fan Fair, a little music festival for country music fans, and turn it into what is now the biggest music festival in the world. I think it’ll be as big as Wembley and we’ll probably fill Titan Stadium before it’s over. I think we made $1.3 million last year and half of that goes to public schools in Nashville. When I got there, there was no Titan Stadium, of course, and the Mayor’s worked really hard to bring professional sports.

Yet Nashville is still very much a small town in its attitude and personality. It’s fresh, it’s clean, but the core is still very much there. It’s exciting what’s happening and all of it is because of this transformation.