History Music / GarthBrooks

-->''Blame it all on my roots//
I showed up in boots//

Despite being the face of a genre of music traditionally associated with conservative values, Brooks is also known for having been an advocate for gay rights since the early '90s, due to his half-sister/bandmate Betsy Smiddle being a lesbian. Brooks was vocal about this stance far before most artists of his stature in the country sphere were, and at a time where such advocacy likely could have incurred a boycott[[note]]he got away with it due to being, well, ''Garth Brooks''[[/note]]. He insisted on having his first single on ''The Chase'' be "We Shall Be Free", a song calling for greater tolerance in the United States, and played hardball with Creator/{{NBC}} and the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague by threatening to pull out of playing the national anthem 15 minutes before the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl unless they agreed to air its music video, an act that won him a GLAAD award in 1993. This barely made a dent in his popularity, and it's a common joke/observed truth in America that few artists could reach across the political aisle like Brooks. In 2021, he performed "Amazing Grace" at UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's inauguration.

Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) was, quite simply, ''the'' voice of country music for the better part of TheNineties. In the entirety of the American music, only Music/ElvisPresley has sold as many albums as Garth[[note]]and there's some dispute in those numbers, though Garth is happy to concede to the King[[/note]]. His ''Ropin' The Wind'' was one of the first albums to be certified Diamond by the RIAA, and was the first country album ever to debut at #1... on the ''Billboard 200'' album chart that tracks ''all'' albums, not just country albums. (For reference, it held the spot between ''[[Music/MetallicaAlbum The Black Album]]'' by Music/{{Metallica}} and ''[[Music/UseYourIllusion Use Your Illusion II]]'' by Music/GunsNRoses.)

[[caption-width-right:267:NiceHat.]]

* NiceHat: He always wears a black cowboy hat. (Well, sometimes he changes it up and wears a white cowboy hat.) He is, after all, the codifier for the country music "hat act" (where Music/GeorgeStrait is the UrExample).

* {{Corpsing}}: Does it a couple of times on ''Double Live''. The first time basically made "Unanswered Prayers" a full AudienceParticipationSong, and the second is right at the end of the Double Live exclusive "It's Your Song".

* WordSaladLyrics: A mild example. "The Beaches of Cheyenne" is a hauntingly tragic song until you finish listening to it and [[FridgeLogic realize]] that Cheyenne, Wyoming is landlocked, and there are no beaches there. And the song is about a woman committing SuicideBySea in California. There doesn't seem to be a clear answer for this by Brooks or his songwriters, except that it scanned well and sounded intriguing.

* WorldSaladLyrics: A mild example. "The Beaches of Cheyenne" is a tragically beautiful song until the FridgeLogic sets in that Cheyenne, Wyoming is landlocked, and there are no beaches there. And the song is about a woman committing SuicideBySea in California. There doesn't really seem to be a clear answer from [[WordOfGod Brooks or any of his songwriters]] on it, either, just that it sounded nice.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Again, the Chris Gaines album. Even on that, there's an example in the last cut, "My Love Tells Me So", which is from the band that Chris breaks out from. Garth[=/=]Chris is ''not'' the lead singer on the track, though he does perform a spoken-word riff during the song's bridge.

* AscendedFanboy: Used his popularity to fulfill his livelong dream of guest-starring on The Muppet Show (or at least [[Series/MuppetsTonight ''a'' Muppet show]]) as well as perform on a tribute album for the band he claims inspired his entire career: Music/{{KISS}}.

Although he may not be the best ''singer'' of country songs (something which he himself will be the first to tell you), he may well be the best ''showman'' country music has ever had, and his integration of pop/arena rock staples into his shows (most notably the use of a headset microphone to allow him to run around stage) brought life and energy to a genre that was increasingly viewed as growing stale and stagnate, helping to bring about a new generation of country stars. He's had half a dozen nationally televised concerts, including memorable ones in Texas Stadium (which installed two bridges to support his antics; the "Garth Bars" remained until the stadium was demolished), Central Park in New York, Croke Park in Ireland, The Wynn in Las Vegas, and Notre Dame in Indiana.

Although he wasn't viewed as the best ''singer'' of country songs, he may well be the best ''showman'' country music has ever had, and his integration of pop/arena rock staples into his shows (most notably the use of a headset microphone to allow him to run around stage) brought life and energy to a genre that was increasingly viewed as growing stale and stagnate, helping to bring about a new generation of country stars. He's had half a dozen nationally televised concerts, including memorable ones in Texas Stadium (which installed two bridges to support his antics; the "Garth Bars" remained until the stadium was demolished), Central Park in New York, Croke Park in Ireland, The Wynn in Las Vegas, and Notre Dame in Indiana.

Despite being the face of a genre of music traditionally associated with conservative values, Brooks is also known for having been an advocate for gay rights since the early '90s, due to his half-sister/bandmate Betsy Smiddle being a lesbian. Brooks was vocal about this stance far before most artists of his stature in the country sphere were and at a time where such advocacy likely could have incurred a boycott. He insisted on having his first single on ''The Chase'' be "We Shall Be Free", a song calling for greater tolerance in the United States, and played hardball with Creator/{{NBC}} and the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague by threatening to pull out of playing the national anthem 15 minutes before the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl unless they agreed to air its music video, an act that won him a GLAAD award in 1993. This barely made a dent in his popularity, and it's a common joke/observed truth in America that few artists could reach across the political aisle like Brooks. In 2021, he performed "Amazing Grace" at UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's inauguration.

Brooks came out of retirement again in late 2013 for a concert in Las Vegas. The concert was included as part of a box set that also comprised four discs' worth of cover songs. He then announced a full comeback in 2014, with a studio album for Creator/RCARecords, ''Man Against Machine'', and a full tour which lasted over three years and featured Yearwood in every show. The album was released in November 2014 and was certified Platinum in less than two months. In September 2016, he got his own channel on Sirius XM radio, which he kicked off with his first-ever concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. Later that year came his next original album, ''Gunslinger'', from which "Ask Me How I Know" became his 20th #1 single on the country charts.

* RecordProducer: Garth worked with producer Allen Reynolds on all of his "main" albums, with [[Music/WasNotWas Don Was]] producing the Chris Gaines album. After Reynolds retired, his sound engineer Mark Miller got promoted to producer. Brooks himself produced one of Ty England's albums (and he covered two of the songs on that album).

* He teamed up with Trisha to cover "Shallow" from the 2018 version of ''[[Film/AStarIsBorn2018 A Star is Born]]''.

** "Callin' Baton Rouge" was originally done by Music/TheOakRidgeBoys

Despite being the face of a genre of music traditionally associated with conservative values, Brooks is also known for having been an advocate for gay rights since the early '90s. This was far before most artists of his stature in the country sphere had done so and at a time where such advocacy likely could have incurred a boycott, due to his half-sister/bandmate Betsy Smiddle being a lesbian. Brooks insisted on having his first single on ''The Chase'' be "We Shall Be Free", a song calling for greater tolerance in the United States for all forms of difference, and played hardball with Creator/{{NBC}} and the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague by threatening to pull out of playing the national anthem 15 minutes before the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl unless they agreed to air its music video, an act that won him a GLAAD award in 1993. This barely made a dent in his popularity, and it's a common joke/observed truth in America that few artists could reach across the political aisle like Brooks. In 2021, he performed "Amazing Grace" at UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's inauguration.

Despite being the face of a genre of music traditionally associated with conservative values, Brooks is also known for having been an advocate for gay rights since the early '90s, far before most artists of his stature in the country sphere had done so and at a time where such advocacy likely could have incurred a boycott, due to his half-sister/bandmate Betsy Smiddle being a lesbian. Brooks insisted on having his first single on ''The Chase'' be "We Shall Be Free", a song calling for greater tolerance in the United States for all forms of difference, and played hardball with Creator/{{NBC}} and the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague by threatening to pull out of playing the national anthem 15 minutes before the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl, an act that won him a GLAAD award in 1993. This barely made a dent in his popularity, and it's a common joke/observed truth in America that few artists could reach across the political aisle like Brooks. In 2021, he performed "Amazing Grace" at UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's inauguration.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) was, quite simply, ''the'' voice of country music for the better part of TheNineties. In the entirety of the country genre, only the Music/{{Eagles}}, Music/KennyRogers, and Music/ElvisPresley have sold as many albums as Garth Brooks. His ''Ropin' The Wind'' was one of the first albums to be certified Diamond by the RIAA, and was the first country album ever to debut at #1...on the ''Billboard 200'' album chart that tracks ''all'' albums, not just country albums. (For reference, it held the spot between ''[[Music/MetallicaAlbum The Black Album]]'' by Music/{{Metallica}} and ''[[Music/UseYourIllusion Use Your Illusion II]]'' by Music/GunsNRoses.)

Although he wasn't the best singer of country songs, he may well be the best showman country music has ever had. He's had half a dozen nationally televised concerts, including memorable ones in Texas Stadium (which installed two bridges to support his antics; the "Garth Bars" remained until the stadium was demolished), Central Park in New York, Croke Park in Ireland, The Wynn in Las Vegas, and Notre Dame in Indiana.

The vast majority of his albums during his peak on Creator/CapitolRecords drew from the same pool of session musicians (Bruce Bouton, Mark Casstevens, Mike Chapman, Rob Hajacos, Chris Leuzinger, Milton Sledge, and Bobby Wood), longtime producer Allen Reynolds, and longtime sound engineer Mark Miller[[note]]not the lead singer of Sawyer Brown[[/note]], collectively known as the "G-Men". Recurring writers such as Pat Alger, Tony Arata, Kim Williams, Victoria Shaw, and Kent Blazy shaped some of his biggest hits, although he was no slouch to writing his own material or covering obscurities from others. His most famous songs range from slick ballads ("The Dance", "Unanswered Prayers", "What She's Doing Now", "The River") to large anthemic songs ("Friends in Low Places", "Shameless", "More than a Memory"), with various other styles in between.

About the only thing Garth did that didn't turn to gold was make an alter ego, Chris Gaines. This was because there was ''supposed'' to be a movie and it was supposed to be the soundtrack for it. Because there was no movie, there was no context, and it looked like some crazy ego trip. Unbelievably, this failed alter-ego project gave Brooks [[BlackSheepHit his sole US Top 40 hit]] with the ballad "Lost in You." Until that point he had never actually pursued pop radio, except through a cover of Music/{{KISS}}' "Hard Luck Woman."

Going into the 21st century, in the wake of his divorce from his first wife, he entered into semi-retirement in order to spend time with his daughters, intending to return to music full time in 2014 when his youngest turned 18. In 2005, he married fellow country singer Music/TrishaYearwood, who had been his opening act on his tours for years and done multiple duets with him (most notably "In Another's Eyes"), and whom he first began dating in 2000. During this semi-retirement, he would occasionally perform at special occasions and benefit concerts. From 2009 to 2014, he had a Las Vegas residency titled ''Garth at Wynn'', where he would periodically perform a couple of shows every few months at the Encore Theatre.

In 2012, Brooks was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame, an honor many said that – given his accomplishments – was inevitable.

Brooks came out of retirement again in late 2013 for a concert in Las Vegas. The concert was included as part of a box set that also comprised four discs' worth of cover songs. He then announced a full comeback in 2014, with a studio album for Creator/RCARecords, ''Man Against Machine'', and a full tour which lasted over three years and featured Yearwood in every show. The first single released from the album was "People Loving People". The album, ''Man Against Machine'', was released in November 2014 and was certified Platinum in less than two months. In September 2016, he got his own channel on Sirius XM radio, which he kicked off with his first-ever concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. Later that year came his next original album, ''Gunslinger'', from which "Ask Me How I Know" would eventually become his 20th Number 1 single on the country charts.

In 2021, he performed "Amazing Grace" at UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's inauguration.