Ronnie Dunn, formerly half of the mega-successful, recently disbanded Brooks & Dunn, has just unveiled 'Bleed Red,' the uplifting first single from his upcoming debut solo album.
Despite the title, the song is neither a polarizing political statement nor a romantic poem. Instead, 'Bleed Red' is an unexpectedly inspirational, piano-heavy plea for understanding a unit that Dunn himself admits sounds more like a song by politically-minded Irish rock legends U2, both musically and lyrically:
"We all bleed red / We all taste rain / We all fall down / Lose our way / We all say words we regret / We all cry tears / We all bleed red / Sometimes we're strong / Sometimes we're weak / We're all the same / We all bleed red."
Dunn surprised himself by choosing the song as his solo debut: "It wasn't necessarily the suit that I was planning on wearing to the dance, so to speak. I said, 'I'm gonna have to beat Bono to the punch. [I thought] what if Conway Twitty was going to come in and put in the vocal on this one?' And that's what we did."
'Bleed Red' will be available through digital outlets on Feb. 8. Neither a release date nor a title for Dunn's upcoming solo album have been announced yet. He also recently covered Gary Stewart's 'She's Acting Single (I'm Drinking Double)' for the 'Country Strong' soundtrack, and will team up with Miranda Lambert on Feb. 1 to announce the nominees for the 46th annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
Listen to Ronnie Dunn, 'Bleed Red'