Garth Brooks, The #53 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

(Continued from Part Two Below)


 

In 1995, Brooks released the album Fresh Horses, which quickly sold three million copies and the count is now over four million.  You may hear this song and it would be completely understandable to say "There are no beaches in Cheyenne."  Brian Kennedy and Dan Roberts co-wrote this song with Garth and Roberts told The Boot:

  

     What we had was about a guy who was living in

     California, a businessman working a regular job 

     who always wished he could rodeo. So he walks

     the beaches at night and thinks about Cheyenne. 

     Garth had the guitar, he was writing the melody 

     and singing, "Every night he walks the beaches of

     Cheyenne," and then Garth sings, "Every night 

     SHE walks the beaches of Cheyenne" by mistake.

     We were all, "Yeah, it's about a woman."  So 

     when he sang that, we started getting focused in

     that it's about a woman, and the story

     materialized out of that.

  

(Note:  Garth's songs have been unavailable to share for decades, and are rarely available for more than a few days before they are deleted.  Finally, Brooks signed a deal with Amazon for the sharing rights to his music.  To best experience this special, it needs to be heard as if it were on the radio, one song after another.  

In this case, however, we ask for your help.  When you click on the link, it will only play a short snippet of the song.  After you click on "Try It Free" (there is no cost), please go back to this page and press the "pause" button at the bottom of the video screen and select to play the full song on the new Amazon Music screen.  When the song ends, press "stop" and come back for the next song.  You will need to do this to hear each Brooks song only available on Amazon.

Once again, Garth was named Favorite Country Male Artist at the American Music Awards, his third consecutive win, and Fresh Horses was nominated for Favorite Country Album.  Garth once again won Favorite Country Male Artist at the American Music Awards in 1997.  He picked up a nomination for Top Country Artist at the Billboard Music Awards and was named Favorite Male Artist at the People's Choice Awards for the fifth consecutive year and World's Best-Selling Country Artist for the fifth straight year.

"She's Every Woman", like "The River", is another written by Brooks and Victoria Shaw.

 

"That 'Ol Wind" tells the story of two lovers who have been separated since a one-night stand ten years earlier, and both have secrets when they reunite.

 

Garth's cover of the Billy Joel song "To Make You Feel My Love" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.  It is from the "Hope Floats" Soundtrack. 

Garth returned with the album Sevens, which became yet another Brooks album to debut at #1.  His concert in Central Park in Manhattan, New York on August 7 drew an estimated 980,000 fans, making it the largest in the park's history.

 Brooks & Yearwood teamed up for "Where Your Road Leads", which earned another Grammy nomination for the pair for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.  Sevens was also nominated for Best Country Album.

 Sevens became his fourth album to top 10 million in sales.  Brooks once again was named Favorite Country Male Artist at the American Music Awards and Sevens earned a trophy for Favorite Country Album.  Garth won Billboard Music Awards for Artist Achievement, Male Album Artist of the Year, Male Album of the Year, Top Country Artist, Country Album Artist of the Year, Top Country Album and Country Song Artist of the Year.  He was also nominated for Favorite All-Time Music Performer at the People's Choice Awards.  Fans who have a hard time mixing beer with proper behavior identify with the song.

"She's Gonna' Make It" was another big Country hit in the U.S. and Canada.

 

His duet with wife Trisha Yearwood, "In Another's Eyes", won a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals and was nominated for Best Country Song.

Brooks won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Artist of the 90's.  Another world tour drew 5.5 million fans (#3 all-time) and grossed over $105 million.

Brooks released the album Double Live in 1998, recorded during his second world tour.  It became the best-selling live release of all-time, now with sales over 21 million copies.  

Brooks captured American Music Awards for Favorite Country Male Artist and Favorite Country Album and he received the Founder Award at the ASCAP Awards.  Garth was nominated for Album Artist of the Year and Country Album Artist of the Year.

Brooks also began a brief career in baseball, signing with the San Diego Padres for their spring training camp in 1998 and 1999.  He didn't make the team, so he signed a similar arrangement with the New York Mets the next season.  Garth gave it one final try in 2004 with the Kansas City Royals, but again did not make the final roster.

In 1999, Brooks agreed to portray Chris Gaines, a fictitious Rock and Roll performer in a projected movie, The Lamb.  The album Garth Brooks in...The Life of Chris Gaines was released with the public not impressed.  The album did rise to #2, but sales fell far short of expectations (it eventually sold two million, minuscule in comparison to previous Brooks releases) and the film was canceled.

Brooks earned a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Male Country Artist.

Brooks bemoaned the conflicts of being a recording star and devoting time to family.  He expressed thoughts of retiring in 1992 and again in 1995 and 1999, all the while continuing to perform.  On October 26, 2000, Brooks announced he was retiring from both recording and performing at least until his youngest daughter graduated from high school.   Coincidentally, Capitol Records announced that Garth had gone over 100 million in album sales in the United States at the same time.

 

Brooks' final album before making that announcement was Scarecrow, released in 2001, that features "Why Ain't I Running".

It too rose to #1 on the Album chart.  "Beer Run", recorded with George Jones, earned a nomination for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals at the Grammy Awards.  Garth also won Favorite Male Artist in both 2001 and 2002 at the People's Choice Awards, the sixth and seventh such honors.

Brooks also recorded "When You Come Back To Me Again" for the movie Frequency, which was nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globe Awards.

In 2002, Garth received an Award of Merit at the American Music Awards and he was nominated for Country Songs Artist of the Year.  He also received the Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In 2005, Brooks concluded his arrangement with Capitol Records and started his own label, Pearl Records.  He released the box set The Limited Series, which contained previous Brooks studio albums as well as Double Live and The Lost Sessions (which included previously unreleased songs).  It sold more than one million copies.

The next year, The Lost Sessions was released as a separate CD and included a duet with his new wife Trisha Yearwood, "Love Will Always Win".  Brooks and Yearwood were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals.

Brooks released another box set, The Ultimate Hits, in 2007.  He began to perform live again, selling out nine shows in Kansas City in less than two hours.  Garth was once again nominated for Favorite Country Male Artist at the American Music Awards and the album was nominated for Favorite Country Album.

In 2009, Brooks performed at the We Are One:  The Obama Inaugural Celebration to mark the first inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Later that year, Garth signed a deal with Steve Wynn, owner of the Encore Las Vegas Hotel, to perform on weekends at the hotel.  This allowed Brooks to spend time with his family in Oklahoma during the week and fly to Las Vegas for shows on Wynn's private jet.

In 2013, Brooks released the box set Blame It All on My Roots:  Five Decades of Influences, which consisted of songs he performed in Las Vegas that influenced his career.  The compilation has been certified Platinum and earned an American Music Award nomination for Favorite Country Album.  Garth also captured the Centennial Award at the ASCAP Awards and Blame It All on My Roots was nominated for Top Country Album at the Billboard Music Awards and for World's Best Album at the World Music Awards.

Brooks announced a world tour and plans for another album in 2014.  He also released his entire catalog digitally, but rather than use traditional streaming sites, he launched his own online music store, GhostTunes.  Later in the year, Brooks released the album Man Against Machine.  

 

This wonderful song is about a conversation between an unborn child and God.  It is a different take on a familiar subject, but a great tribute to Moms.

Sales of that album put Garth ahead of Elvis Presley in U.S. album sales, as the two have jockeyed back and forth for the all-time most sales for a solo artist.  Presley, who died in 1976, has certified sales of 134.5 million.

In 2016, Brooks released the single "Baby, Let's Lay Down And Dance" from the album, Gunslinger.  He also announced plans to release a Christmas album with Yearwood entitled Christmas Together.

 

Mitch Rossell gave some songs to Garth for his Man Against Machine album, and, while none made it onto that project, Brooks reached out to Rossell for the Gunslinger album.  "Ask Me How I Know" is the one Garth recorded.

Brooks released the album Triple Live in 2018.  That year, Garth performed to 30 sold-out stadiums in North America.  In 2020, Brooks released the album Fun.

On January 20, 2021, Garth performed at the U.S. presidential Inauguration of Joe Biden.

Brooks has sold over 136 million records in the U.S., second only to the Beatles' 160 million.  He is the only artist in history to release seven albums that have each gone over 10 million in sales.  

He has won two Grammy Awards from 13 nominations, 12 American Music Awards from 21 nominations, 17 Billboard Music Awards from 23 nominations, five World Music Awards from six nominations, three ASCAP Awards, eight People's Choice Awards out of nine nominations and two Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.