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The world of country music is celebrating today as news spreads of the return of superstar Garth Brooks. The singer disappeared after 2001. With 13 years to make up for, fans are already vying for details on his upcoming three-year world tour and new album.
“He’ll kick off a three-year world tour soon, with the first date to be announced Monday. More details will follow within 10 days,” said USA Today. Rolling Stone added that Brooks will get the word out on July 14th by “sharing it personally with a fan who attended one of his Las Vegas full-band performances. Brooks said it’s then up to the fan, named Andy, how he would like to share that information with the world. He is also in talks with Ticketmaster to help sell tickets (presently, garthbrooks.com will be the sole seller) and is pleased by the company’s willingness to help him secure low ticket prices.”
On his last tour, back in the 1990s, Brooks brought together a conglomeration of more than 5 million fans. This tour is sure to draw in large numbers once again.
The details on the new album are equally vague.
“Brooks said he has partnered with Sony Music’s RCA Records to distribute the new material and help with radio promotion. The album — as yet untitled, as confirmed by a Sony representative — will be released ‘around Black Friday,’” Rolling Stone reported. This will be his first new studio album since 2001’s Scarecrow.
Having re-entered the music scene in the midst of a digital age, Brooks is moving his tracks to digital release as well, though he refuses to give his music to iTunes. The alternative?
“Brooks will sell his music online at garthbrooks.com. ‘That will begin in the next two or three weeks,’ he says, starting with his back catalog. Brooks, the top-selling artist in the USA since 1991, has been one of the last major holdouts in the digital realm,” says USA Today. “Some people might think ‘I’m giving it away, but I’m not,’ he says. But it will be offered ‘at a stupid price.’”
Brooks is staying true to his roots in other ways. He assures fans that his music will not veer towards “bro country” or “hick hop.”
“For those who show up,” Rolling Stone records. “I hope we give you a show that makes you forget the ones that were in the Nineties.”
Full of energy and reinvigorated, Garth Brooks seems to have brought country music back to the stage of America.
