At 60, Brooks is busy celebrating all that life has to offer, whether it’s music, wine or cooking. Brooks, who also owns the acclaimed Arrington Vineyards just outside of Nashville, is about to release his first cookbook, “Cookin’ It With Kix: The Art of Celebrating the Fun of Outdoor Cooking” (due Aug. 30, Thomas Nelson Books). No surprise there: Brooks also hosts “Steak Out with Kix Brooks” on the Cooking Channel (airing at 10 a.m. Thursdays), which finds the singer visiting steakhouses across America, garnering recipes and tips from the best beef purveyors in the country (a recent episode found him at Chicago Cut).
Brooks recently chatted about his very busy life.
Q. How did the Las Vegas gig come about?
A. The three of us have been friends forever. Me, Ronnie and Reba has were at dinner one night and talking about some of the tours we’ve been on together, laughing about so much stuff, and she said why don’t we go on tour like that again? And I wasn’t really interested in a big tour again. The last time we toured we had 21 trucks on the road for the three of us. And all of us had stuff going on and my schedule is just jammed. Once Ronnie and me came off the road, I was busy making wine and my solo music. But I said, if Vegas cared and we could do a few weeks here and there, I’d love to play all those songs again. So our manager made a few calls and Caesars made us an offer that made our eyes roll back in our heads. And here we are. And it’s been a ton of fun. We play Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights. I get to play some golf. And we don’t worry about show dates in the next city. And it’s the greatest theater I’ve ever played in; it can make an 11-piece hillbilly band look and sound great.
