Country duo Brooks & Dunn have decided to call it quits after a 20-year career, squeezing out a greatest-hits collection and a farewell tour before riding off into the sunset. “After 20 years of making music and riding this trail together, we have agreed as a duo that it’s time call it a day,” 54-year-old Kix Brooks and 56-year-old Ronnie Dunn said in a statement. The duo collected a slew of country music awards over the course of their career, as well as two Grammy Awards; according to Nielsen SoundScan, their album sales in the U.S. have topped the 22 million mark. Thanks to Dan Gibson for recommending that I post their 1992 single “Neon Moon,” which came from their first album and was their third hit to reach No. 1 on the country charts, along with the announcement of their split. [Reuters]

Kix Brooks comments on Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama using his song to cap his nomination speech last night: “Seems ironic that the same song Bush used at The Republican Convention last election would be used by Obama and the Democrats now,” Brooks said. “Very flattering to know our song crossed parties and potentially inspires all Americans.” [Post Rock]

After Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama finished his (terrific) speech last night, the twangy chords of Brooks & Dunn’s “Only In America” flooded Invesco Field, as well as the speakers of all those people watching at home. With its lyrics about big American dreams and how they sometimes fail, it was a natural fit with the “let’s make America great again” thrust of Obama’s speech. (Curiously, the track was also used by George W. Bush’s campaigns in 2004, although I’m going to chalk that up to another case of “campaign song choice that’s the result of only listening to the title being sung.”) But how did the song choice play out there? Let’s go to what is, for better or worse, a representative sampling of our citizenry: The comments section of the video’s official home on YouTube.

First, let’s hear from a Republican, just for the purposes of “equal time”:

It is funny how Obama used this song just like Bush did in 2004.By the way Brooks & Dunn are both Republicans.Go John McCain 2008!!!

It’s true that, in addition to having their track soundtrack Bush’s 2004 campaign, the duo performed at a Republican event that year. But while searching for writeups of Chris Willman’s Rednecks & Bluenecks, which looks at politics in country music and will probably be very key reading for this election, I found this nugget:

Ronnie Dunn, of the superstar duo Brooks & Dunn, not only played at Bush’s first inaugural but also is a “boot-scootin’ policy wonk” who reads widely on the history of Islam. He’s a hawk on Iraq, but also notes that “right now, religion scares me to death. Historically, it’s probably the cause of more deaths than any other force on the planet. … Here, you turn on the TV and see these TV evangelists going at it and you want to say, Give me some air. Back away from the pulpit, dude!”

So who knows; perhaps they’ll come out and actually say something about their song choice, and how the election’s going so far. (I do wonder how Brooks felt about that faith forum.) And besides, as another YouTube commenter pointed out:

Maybe because it’s such an all-American song that doesn’t belong to any party??? McCain doesn’t have a chance after tonight. He’s out of his depth.

This guy isn’t the only person out there who feels that whether or not “Only In America” is a great song or not is a non-partisan case:

Can we just STOP relating this to Obama and McCain?!?

It’s a great song and has been since I was young.

Ha ha, fat chance there! So much for your memories. At least this person decided to tie the song to Obama in a hopeful way:

Perfect song, perfect moment! I hope Barack picks supreme court justices like he picks song to follow his big speech.

Sure, that comment was in the form of a complete sentence. But how do people who learned English from their cell phones feel?

damnnnn lol olol i heard this at obama speech 2 its funny how things bring us 2gether guys its time for the change we need it real bad go obama goo

And finally, the all-important “American trance fan” demographic weighs in:

I’m a huge trance music lover. But I heard this song for the first time tonight after Obama’s speech. I LOVE this song!!! Great lyrics and music.

So, who’s going to do the inevitable remix of this track for its crossover to this vital segment of the voting populace? (Not will.i.am, right? Please not will.i.am.)

Brooks & Dunn – Only In America [YouTube]
Only In America [MySpace]

I championed “Put A Girl In It” in the Summer Jam contest, and for good reason: The song sounds tailor-made to be blared from pickup trucks parked close to lakes, and you can’t underestimate the appeal of that sort of thing. (Example A: Kid Rock’s latest hit.) However, I feel like the lack of an actual video (and their first-round opponent being Alphabeat) led to the downfall of Kix and Ronnie in that particular contest. But there’s still time to embrace “Put A Girl In It,” since the song now has an official video–sure, it looks suspiciously like a beer ad, but the song’s still pretty good. [YouTube]

I generally assume that the biggest song of the summer–or, at very least, the one I’m going to remember–will come from the playlists of R&B/hip-hop stations. However, something about “Put A Girl In It” by Brooks & Dunn just screams out hanging out on the lake with a cooler full of beer. The duo capture the spirit of early Beach Boys tracks–songs about girls, fun, and not much else. It’s not even June yet, but “Put A Girl” is already playing on 215 stations in nearly every market in the country–a ubiquity that, to me, defines what a jam of the summer is all about. [YouTube]

As promised

, our quest to find 2008′s official summer jam in a reader-determined tournament starts today; over the next few days we’ll roll out the rest of the nominees, which come from all over the radio map, including even those areas we aren’t very excited to be traveling through. (Hey, we have to acknowledge the inevitable, although you should know that the Katy Perry song has been disqualified on principle–especially since its “controversial even though it wasn’t all that controversial in 1995″ subject matter is now garnering attention from the overly gullible media.) After the jump, our first two contenders–Brooks & Dunn’s “Put A Girl In It” and Alphabeat’s “Fascination”–duke it out, with accompanying commentary courtesy Dan Gibson and Kate Richardson, respectively.

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