Garth Brooks
In the midst of performing for 17 sold out shows in three cities, Pittsburgh,Pa.(6), Chicago(6) and Sioux Falls(5), in 22 days, Garth Brooks dropped a potential bombshell. The popular country singer is considering cutting back his touring schedule to spend more time with his family.
“The first thing I’ll remind you is that my main gig is to take care if my children,”Brooks said during a press conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., prior to a series of six sold out shows.
“My folks were there for me always. So the time has come for me to cut back to be with my family, and the time has come for that decision to be made. Taylor is almost six now and we’re looking for her to be back home, going to school with the children whose families, we have known for years. (Brooks has three daughters Taylor Mayne Pearl 5, August (3) and Allie (1)) While the 35 year old Yukon, Oklahoma native said Nashville has been a good place to call home and the city and the people have been good to him, the time has come to make a decision about where he and his wife Sandy (32) want to raise their children. “We’ve been looking at land in Oklahoma and Southern Colorado,” Brooks said. “We’re looking to find a good deal on some land now (he laughs).
In this business things come and go very quickly. So if there comes a time when the focus of our lives is not with the music, then the time will come for us to make a decision to move on.
After all, the only down part to doing all this is that I am away from my family quite a bit. And for me, the family has to speak up and tell me that, and they have and will.”
When Brooks was pressed to reveal the release date of his highly anticipated next album, tentatively titled “Sevens”, he said no date has been set and negotiations with his record company, are at a standstill. “The new album is titled “Sevens”,”Brooks said,”but if it goes past 1997 I’m going to change the title to “Eighths”(he laughs).”
The most recent opportunity Brooks fans have had to hear him sing new material is a duet single with country singer Trisha Yearwood titled “In Another’s Eyes”, from Yearwood’s latest album “(Songbook) A collection of hits”. Brooks feels Yearwood has a special place in his life as well as career. “There are two females I take advise from in my career,”Brooks said,”one is my mom and the other is Trisha Yearwood. I’d like to do a series of duet albums with Thrisha. There has never been a series of duet albums in country music. What Jones and Wynette did was an album together, but there has never been a series of duet albums like the ones Trisha and I want to do.”
Country music has been not only a lucrative profession for Brooks
-The singer revealed that, if he had not pursued a career in country music, he just might have fallen in with the wrong crowd. “If I wasn’t performing country music,”Brooks said,” well you might know my name in a bad way. I would have found something else to do. I would have looked at other opportunities and they might have been bad. I might have become known to people because I got into trouble. I love athletics so I probably would have tried to go into athletics, but I just might have gotten into trouble.”
Much to the surprise and delight of the local press at the conference in Pittsburgh, Brooks said he has been a Pittsburgh sports fan since his high school days when he played football. “My three favorite sports teams are the Steelers,the Pirates and the Penguins,”Brooks said. “It’s been that way since 1972 when Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh Pirates legendary baseball player) died, then I was a Steelers fan and after that the Penguins.
Now basketball is a different story. Michael Jordan is my favorite basketball team (he laughs).” With tribute albums currently popular projects for country artists to work on these days, Brooks said he is not ready to jump completely on the tribute album bandwagon anytime soon. “I don’t do many tribute albums because everybody else in Nashville is doing them,”Brooks said. “I did the KISS tribute album, but Nashville has so many tribute albums that I really don’t want to be on one right now(he laughs). “Now,”he continued,” would Garth like to do a single on a George Strait tribute album? Sure I would. Also would Garth want to do a single for a James Taylor tribute album? You bet he would.” Pop singer James Taylor’s music has been so influential to Brooks that he even named his first born child after Taylor. “Taylor Mayne is my oldest girl,”Brooks said,” and she is named after James Taylor and the state of Maine, where let’s say she was thought of before she was born(he laughs). I took a picture of my wife the first day she knew she was pregnant and we went back there and took a picture of her at the same place.”