Ronnie Dunn, half of the former bestselling country music duo Brooks & Dunn, has a singing voice that's echoed through many a truck stop and stadium. And Dunn loves himself some Soviet art.
You read that right. Soviet art. This summer, I went to Nashville to interview Dunn for PRI's “Studio 360.” “I'll show you my Gerasimov,” he said with a drawl, as he strode up his mansion's staircase in cowboy boots. “That one's a Timkov.” The balladeer showed me wall after wall of impressionistic landscapes, portraits and sketches. And then he turned the interview on me: What was Moscow like the last time I went? How's the traffic? When did I learn Russian, and why?
“Wow,” I thought after I collected my jaw off the floor and said goodbye. “He's got the Thing. He's got it bad.”
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