Garth Brooks Sets His Return

Written by Jon Williams

Last week, country music superstar Garth Brooks held a press conference in Nashville to announce his return to the music scene following thirteen years of semi-retirement. Although he was vague on details at the time, news came down yesterday that his upcoming world tour will kick off in Chicago on September 4. And that’s not all—there is new music in the offing as well. A new single from the hitmaker is expected within the next two months, with a full album of new material coming in November. Given the amount of material compiled during his time off, Brooks says it may turn out to be a double album.

His road to becoming a music legend began when he burst onto the scene with his self-titled debut album in 1989. Garth Brooks contained the hits “Much Too Young” and “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” which became his first #1 single. The album closed with a little ballad called “The Dance,” one of his best-loved songs and Brooks’s personal favourite from his own catalog—although he promises a track on the upcoming album that rivals it for that distinction.

He continued his breakthrough by following his debut up quickly with No Fences (currently unavailable) in 1990. With smashes like “The Thunder Rolls” and “Friends in Low Places,” it is his bestselling album to date. Honours for second best go to 1991’s Ropin’ the Wind, which made history by debuting atop the pop charts, the first time a country album had achieved this feat. The album’s pop credentials were boosted by a cover of Billy Joel’s “Shameless.”

By this point, Brooks was bona fide country sensation, and the rest of the ‘90s was spent consolidating his position with hit singles and strong albums. The anthemic “We Shall Be Free” propelled The Chase in 1992, while “Standing Outside the Fire” and “The Red Strokes did the same for 1993’s In Pieces. He followed that with Fresh Horses (containing “The Beaches of Cheyenne”) in 1995 and his seventh album, Sevens, in 1997.

In 1999, Brooks, who despite being firmly rooted in country music was influenced in his youth by a number of rock acts, attempted an ill-fated side trip into the mainstream pop world. For a movie project in which he would play a rock star, he released the album In the Life of Chris Gaines (unavailable). Because it came out before the movie, there was some confusion as to exactly what Brooks was doing; although the album went multiplatinum and placed a single (“Lost in You”) at #5 on the pop charts, it was deemed a failure, and the project was shelved, with the movie never being filmed.

Following this “fiasco,” Brooks announced his retirement from recording and touring in 2000. One final album, Scarecrow, was released in 2001. And that has been it…until now. With the news that Garth is getting back in the saddle, though, his music is sure to be in demand. Be sure you have all these classic albums on your shelves, and rest assured that we’ll bring you the information on his forthcoming release as soon as it becomes available.