Brooks, Garth

BROOKS, GARTH BROOKS, GARTH (b. Luba, Okla., February 7, energetic of all country performers, although recently 1963) he has descended to such schmaltzy tactics as waving Brooks’s phenomenal success in the early 1990s was and winking at the audience, and blowing air kisses at a combination of genuine talent, shrewd marketing, his fans. and being “in the right place at the right time (with Brooks’s 1992 album, The Chase, reflects a further the right act).” His new-country act draws so much nudging toward mainstream pop, particularly in the on mid-1970s folk-rock and even arena-rock (in its anthemic single “We Shall Be Free,” whose vaguely staging) that it’s hard to think of him as a pure country liberal politics sent shivers of despair through the con- artist. The fact that his early ’90s albums shot to the servative Nashville musical community. Less success- topof the popcharts, outgunning Michael Jackson, ful than his previous releases (although still selling sev- Guns ’n’ Roses, and Bruce Springsteen, underscores eral million copies), it was followed by 1993’s In the fact that Brooks is a pop artist dressed in a cowboy Pieces, featuring a safer selection of high-energy hat. Still, Brooks draws on genuine country traditions, honky-tonk numbers and even the odd “American particularly the HONKY-TONK sound of GEORGE JONES, Honky-Tonk Bar Association,” in which Brooks beats and he’s managed to popularize country music without up on welfare recipients, a shameless attempt to cater diluting the sound. to country’s traditionally conservative audience. Brooks’s mother, Coleen, was a small-time country Brooks’s career sagged in the mid-1990s as he pur- singer who worked sporadically on recordings and sued a lifelong ambition to be the first artist to sell radio in their native Oklahoma. Brooks grew upinter- more records than The Beatles. This led to a series of ested in sports, playing football, basketball, and track shameless repackagings of earlier work while he in high school, and entering Oklahoma State on a track- fought with his label over what he felt was a lack of and-field scholarship, with a specialty in javelin throw- commitment to promoting his songs. He held up the ing. His GUITAR-playing career began in high school release of his 1997 album, Sevens, until Capitol and continued in college, where he worked area clubs, changed its country management to restore his lack of performing a mix of James Taylor folk-pop and coun- faith in their marketing efforts. The album, returning try. He made his first tripto Nashville in 1985, without him to his earlier country sound, was a major success. success, and returned home with his college-sweet- Then, in 1999, Brooks decided to appear in a film por- heart wife, Sandy Mahl. Back in Nashville in 1987, traying a 1970s pop SINGER/SONGWRITER named Chris Brooks attracted the attention of Capitol Records and Gaines. He decided to record an album of “greatest producer Allen Reynolds. hits” by his alter ego, with rock producer Don Was at His first album was successful, but the follow-up, the controls. The result was a major career fiasco; de- No Fences, really began Garthmania. It sold 700,000 spite a TV special and heavy promotion, the album copies in its first ten days of release, and stayed on was a major flop, and Brooks’s fan base was greatly the pop charts for over a year. His third album, Ropin’ confused. The film never appeared (although during the Wind, entered the pop charts in the ࠻1 position, the first country album ever to do so. Brooks’s hit his comeback in the fall of 2001, rumors were spread singles from these albums combined country bathos that it might be salvaged and eventually released). Brooks withdrew from the public eye in 2000, amid (“If Tomorrow Never Comes,” a ten-hanky WEEPER about a husband’s realization of the value of his mar- announcements that his longtime storybook marriage riage), with neo honky-tonk (“Friends in Low Places,” was coming to an end. a cleverly humorous song with its tip-of-the-hat bass Never one to give upeasily, Brooks came roaring vocals recalling GEORGE JONES), and even the feminist back with his album Scarecrow in the autumn of 2001. “The Thunder Rolls,” a story of a cheating husband Announced as his “last” album, it returned him to the (whose message is made graphic in a video that ruffled sound and style of his earlier country outings, and the quite a few conservative Nashville feathers with its fans responded by making it a major hit. To promote depiction of a physically abusive husband). the album Brooks undertook his “Coast-to-Coast” tour, Brooks’s performing style captured the attention of including three dates that were broadcast live on CBS. the major media. Learning a lesson from the arena- As of early 2002 the album had already topped 4 mil- rock stars of his youth, Brooks built a special set featur- lion in sales, propelled by its first single, “Wrapped ing large ramps enclosing the band (enabling him to Upin You.” Despitehis assurances that this would be dramatically charge upand down around his backup his “last” album, Brooks was already hinting in press musicians), and even installed a rope so he could swing conferences that an album of outtakes might be forth- out over the audience—shades of Ozzy Osbourne-like coming, and the possibility of new recording certainly theatrics! With his portable mike neatly hooked to his exists. For an artist as competitive as Brooks, it is ten-gallon hat, Brooks is one of the most mobile and highly unlikely that he will retire quietly. 3 BROOKS, GARTH Select Discography In Pieces, Liberty 80857. A return to Garth form and another megaseller. Garth Brooks, Liberty 90897. Debut LP from 1989. Sevens, Capitol 56599. Not as strong as his earlier out- No Fences, Liberty 93866. The big kahuna that put ings, but an attempt to return to his country roots. Garth on the charts. Chris Gaines: Greatest Hits, Capitol 20051. The “big Ropin’ the Wind, Liberty 96330. hits” of the mythical 1970s singer/songwriter, fea- The Chase, Liberty 98743. Garth as soulful singer/ turing a bewigged Garth singing a mushy collection songwriter. of pop ballads. 4.

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