Good Morning! Uh, my name is Mike Dungan, I’m the president of Capitol Records here in Nashville. And it is my personal pleasure to welcome you here today. Uh, those of you who know me know that I have only been at the helm of Capitol about twelve weeks. And, in that time, I’ve had several opportunities to have meetings with Garth. Uh, we always schedule them to last an hour and they always last four or five hours. Uh, I have found him to be, um, without a doubt, one of the most charming and disarming and straight forward and straight up, uh, honest men that I’ve ever worked with.

Um, I have a 94 year-old grandfather whose birthday was about two months ago, and, three months ago, and I called him on his birthday and I told him about the change in my life, and I told him that I would now be working with the, the, biggest, uh, recording artist in the world , and he said ‘you mean Garth Brooks’, and I, I was, that doesn’t sound unusual to most people, but my grandfather’s 94 and he really doesn’t know anything about music since 1940. And it really struck me, it took me, um, probably ‘til after I got off the phone with him, about what an impact, uh, this man has had on country music, on all music, and on our culture. Uh, this is definitely a major accomplishment that we’re here to celebrate today, the sales of more than 100 million records, in ten years.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Garth Brooks.

I’ll apologize ahead of time of, uh, being as nervous as, uh, I know I appear to be. It’s a GOOD day, and no matter what you’re gonna hear in here today, and how emotional it might get. It’s a GOOD day today, it’s gonna be a good day. Um, you know me, I never do opening speeches, I’m always like to talk with you, rather than talk at you. But, on this occasion, I think, uh, for a year we have promised that, uh, we would make some announcements, and, uh, we probably need to get to those announcements, um, to start with.

First of all, I can’t tell you how proud I am of the fact that we did what we said we would. We would take the year, we would be quiet, and silent, and we’d work on the things that were important, the passing, uh, of my mother, and my relationship with my wife, my relationship with my children, and my relationship, um, with my father. And, thank God for the EMI/Time Warner merger, because, uh, when Ken Berry came down to spring training last year, or this, earlier this year, and told us that the merger would be something that would be a difficult thing, everything kinda got put on hold, music wise, too. So, all of a sudden, all the things that we had promised to deliver at the end of the year got put on hold, which was good for me, ‘cuz it, it then allowed me to focus on the things I needed to focus on.

The first address thing, I’m sure that we should take care of is, on Crook & Chase, last year, I addressed, that, uh, I would announce at the end of the year what we’re gonna do with our career. Um, the people in L.A., the people here at management, everybody is so damn scared and kept beggin’ me, please don’t use the word retirement. You guys know me, uh, I just, I just, I can only be as honest as I can be, I don’t know how else to say it. I’m here to announce my retirement. It’s, uh, it’s, um, it’s a thing that I feel good about. It’s a thing that I feel what I’m trading it for is more important, at this point in my life, which, I never thought I’d ever find anything that, that would be that important, but, uh, your relationship with your children , um, is, to anybody that’s a parent out there. So, uh, uh, today, uh, we start a new life. Now, with the Time Warner merger it does make things a little, uh, not so clean, in the fact that we’ve lost a year.

So, with this, the next thing is, what is the future for us. Things have been pushed back a year.Bob Doyle, for the people around this town, uh, is a very respected voice. And he is, definitely in my camp, in my family. Since the second day I moved here, he has been one of my best friends, he has become my manager and publisher. He talked to me about, if we are, to move out of the business, that the people should have one record from us. I thought about that all year. And, with Mike Dungan, uh, he makes you wanna make music.

So, the decision is, simply this, it’s not gonna be real crystal clear and clean, so I’ll do my best to word it the best I can, we begin today, the attempt, to bring a record to Mike Dungan and Capitol Records. But, the last thing I really need from you guys, and I’m prayin’ that you hear me on this, I don’t want it to be called the last record, the farewell record, please, it’s just, it’s one of the records that will stand, hopefully, with the other seven studio records that we have done. Um, and, the reason I say it’s an attempt is because we all grow older, and formats change, and I’m not sure that what we do fits, uh, will fit the format today. Um, but we will make a serious attempt, with all the love in our heart, to do the best record that we possibly can. Um, with that, it brings us to our next point.

Um, it is the ten year anniversary of my favorite record that we’ve done, a record called No fences. With that, a single that I always wanted off that album was Wild Horses. It’s nice now, to be able to go back and pull that, as a single, for the tenth anniversary. And the greatest thing about Wild Horses is to me it’s a song I would cut today, uh, on a new album. So, it’s going to be a really interesting ride for me on the single, to see, how the format responds to Wild horses. And it will be a huge thing for me on determining what kind of music, if any, I bring to the format over the next year. The suggested, uh, release date for the new album is, uh, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Which makes a lot of sense in my life right now, So, uh, that’s what we’ll be going for.

Allen Reynolds is fully clued in on all this stuff, and if he thought it was impossible, he would’ve told me. But, uh, the search begins. So, to the industry of Nashville, and the songwriters, a usual search leads to 3500 to 4000 songs, for an album, this search will well go over the 10,000 song mark, because, everybody that has dealt with age, or dealt with a career that has been around for a while knows that you have to work ten times harder, the older you get, to establish the par that has been set in the past. And, we’re ready for that task.

My relationship with my children’s stronger than I ever thought it could be, already, so I know their support is gonna be there. The actual songwriters that I’ve called have already offered to fly out to Oklahoma, and make it real easy on me, to look for songs and hopefully write some new stuff. So, it is a GOOD day, as emotional as it’s gonna be, it is a good day, and it feels nice to be back, in the arena again. Um, on behalf of Mr. Dungan, we have said this a couple times, between, um, Jimmy Bowen, between Pat Quigley, and between myself, we’ve done a pretty good job of alienating Capitol Records from Music Row. If there is, um, I never wanna kiss anybody’s ass, to be accepted into a family, but you gotta admit, to be part of the family is a great thing. And, if there is anybody that can make Capitol Records sell records and still be a part, or become again a part, of the Music Row industry, Mike Dungan is that man, he’s a good man, as so far in what we have seen. And, eh, the relationship is new, so, uh, just wanna call it as I see it so far, he’s been a good man. If he can sell records, you know, uh, we’ll see, that’s, that’s gonna be the next step. So, uh, I feel very confident in the position and the place that we are heading.

We’re also gonna talk today about, uh, Napster, we gonna talk about digital downloading. And, uh, uh, you know, it’s not a big mystery, people, what Napster’s doing is wrong, they know it’s wrong, but they’re hidin’ within the laws. But, it’s gotta change. But, the thing with Napster that wakes us all up is, there is a huge market on the internet for music. Another thing that wakes us up, is working with this label, here, to try and figure out why in the hell we’re asking full retail price on the internet, for what you can buy in Wal-Mart or K-mart, without the CD, and without the art of it.

So, we’re gonna get with the label and we’re gonna make good music available, that’s clean music, no viruses, to be downloaded, at a discounted price, because you do have to buy your own CD and it comes with no artwork at this point in our technology, while at the same time, bein’ shoulder to shoulder with those retailers, that have supported us before the internet ever existed, to make sure that they don’t feel threatened, by the, the new audience that’s coming on the internet. But, it definitely is a force that is going to have to be reckoned with, and it definitely should be something that they get at a discount, since they don’t get the entire package, uh, while they download. So, we will make it friendly. And, anything we can do to discourage the downloading where the songwriters get totally ripped off and the label gets totally ripped off. And, uh, that’s what we’re gonna put our efforts. Um, that’s pretty much the basics of the hard stuff. We can, uh, cover the relatinship, uh, um, with my wife, we can cover the relationship with my children, um, we can cover the relationship with any fire stories that you have heard, uh, circulating around. Although, the truth isn’t gonna be as good as what you guys have already written. Um, so, uh, I will be happy, at this time, since the room is (thank you), since the room is full of faces that have been, um, very good to me and friends to me, at times, I would be more than welcome to, uh, open it up for questions, and, um, maybe we can get some of your questions answered, if there are any.

Question: Will you tour?

Garth:Um, I think the days of Garth Brooks touring is uh, is behind us at this point. I’ve never wanted to look at music, or touring, as a weekend warrior. If I tour, I want to bring you everything we got. I want to bring you the best show we can. And can I bring you a show that I’m proud of, with just me and a guitar? Yes, I can. But is it gonna compare with the assault that we put on people for three years? I don’t think it will. I think Garth Brooks is David Butzler, the lighting guy. I think Garth Brooks is James Garver, the lead guitar player. And so, if I cannot tour like that, which I can’t no longer with my children; and I have no regrets about that, then I don’t wanna tour anymore if it’s not that way. I’m on the basis now where me and my children are together every day. And every night I tuck those children in and I’m responsible for their safety and I feel good about that. I have asked my wife to be husband, I mean to be father and mother long enough, and, uh, it’s time for me to accept my responsibilities and accept the true rewards that come with being a father. And so, the times of touring for us is over. The possibility of maybe doing something with maybe one of the networks as far as a summer replacement series of doing 6 or 7 concerts in different settings to help the new album if it arrives, that is something I owe my label. And again, I’ve always said this. It’s not about marketing, it’s about what you owe the music to let people know that it’s out there. Not forcing them to buy it, but just making sure they know it’s out there. Then you’ve done your job after recording the music.

Question: In relation to that whole question of retiring and touring, I’ve also heard some speculation that you might pull out of The Grand Ole Opry. That you might end your membership in The Grand Ole Opry. Can you talk about that. And talk about what your commitment will be to The Opry in retirement.

Garth: Yeah, if I end my, if I end my part of the family of The Opry, it will be because they pried my cold dead fingers off it, and that’s it. They’re going to have to kick me out of there. Um, being there, I don’t know. I’m not there that much now. My job with The Opry, I feel, more is to explain to people that it is the highlight of my career. And, uh, for people who maybe never went to the Opry, to try to explain to them why they need to go. I feel that’s my gig more than showing up every weekend. So, um, with The Opry, it will be their call. And it will be fully respected. They have never been anything but right and true. And I’m not holding up my 12 points a year at this, at this point. And probably will not have the Opry as my outlet to play music. Again, that’s looking at it as a weekend warrior thing, and I just can’t treat the music or The Opry in that form.

Question: Where are you living now?

Garth: We live in both places. We have our home here, still. And we have a home in Keatonville(not sure correct spelling here, my guess).

Question: What is the status of your marriage?

Garth: The status, thank you. Um, Miss Melinda Newman, in the article, the quote was ‘ Sandy and I both agree we need to get a divorce. Um, but the affect it will have on our children is weighing very heavy on our souls right now.’ From that, with no offense to whoever it was, if it was AP or whatever, they decided to drop some words from that quote. To where what was left was ‘ Sandy and I agreed to a divorce.’ Sandy and I have not agreed to a divorce. Could it happen tomorrow? Yes. Could it never happen? Yes. We’re still in the same place we were. And I’m very proud that her and I have realized that it’s her and mine time frame. It’s nobody else’s. No influence from the outside world will change the decision Sandy and I will eventually come to. And it will be in her and mine time. And, uh, another thing that I’m very proud of is of how she has held up through this as well. But, thank you for asking that.

Hey, how ya’ doing, good to see you, Jerry. Yeah, I’m sorry, they’ve got it. Alright. Yeah, I think what retirement means for me, is, is, country music as you know Garth Brooks, touring, the artist. Um, you know, uh, one of the things that is still left undone for me, that I’d love to do, is the duet album, with Miss Yearwood. Um, but will that happen, that, that’s something that, you know, you’ll have to think about. Um, again, in all of our works, I’m sure everybody’s the same way, if you take time off and then try and jump back in and do it again, you might think you’re doing as good as you are, but truth is, you’re not. And you owe much more to music than that. So, my thing, that I’m really looking forward to do after this coming year is over, is writing, especially screenplay writing, um, that is, uh, for movies. But, that’s stuff that I can do after I drop my kids off at school, and I can, I can work at it at home, and, and do my stuff there. The stuff that I’m pulling away from is the stuff that takes me away from home.

And that mostly was the touring, and, uh, the recording. I mean, it takes you six months to make a record, and you’re in with guys that believe that, if you’re supposed to be there til four in the morning, you will be, uh, because the music comes first, at that time. Again, a thing about Sandy, of taking the both father and mother role for, for those kids, for eight years, is because, if we weren’t touring, we were recording, which means we weren’t home, anyway, while we were in the same town. And now, being with your children now, for a year, and being there for firsts, there are things now you don’t want to live without, selfishly, but also there are things you realize you didn’t live without, with your dad. And I would love to be a quarter of the dad my dad was to me. And, so, my job now shifts to that. And, with all the thankfulness in the world, I’m so glad that I got to go from one gig that was so rewarding to me, to another gig, that’s ten times more rewarding to me than music has ever been, with no offense to music, or the people (need some help on the wording, here, it sounds like he says ‘that make it up in my path’, but that doesn’t make any sense, and I can’t come up with anything else, probably getting too tired to try very hard. Any suggestions?)

Thank you, very much. Yes, Jerry. Um, uh, uh, th-th-that’s a good question. Me, I, I think we all wanna think of ourselves as, as people that take what we do very seriously. There was a saying on tour, take what you do very seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously. And, that’s what we live by out there. And, it’s the same way here, I’ve slowed down enough to now address my personal life. My belief in Christ. My faith in my father and my mother. And my faith in myself as a, um, I don’t have any faith in myself as a husband, at this point, I do as a father, um, so, uh, but I do have a lot of faith in myself as a friend, to my wife. So, those are things that you stare at the ceiling, and you think about, like all of us do, at night. I think it just might be the first time that I’ve slowed down enough to focus on that. And, I hid behind the ‘I gotta go out and make a livin’ for my family’ thing. And, that, thank God, and the people, is behind us. We should’ve, we’ve done our, if we’ve done our, our, our stuff smartly, you know, that’s no longer an excuse to go out. And, uh, so it’s time to now stand up to the things that God has granted you with, also, and that’s children. And, so, uh, I must do my best now, as a father, but personally this has been tough, uh, with my mom’s passsing, I didn’t think I’d ever, um, see the sun again. And, (voice cracks here) (sounds like he says to himself something like ‘damn it, go on’) um, we did the Hollywood Bowl, this summer, and something happened that morning, with me, and I decided, from that day on I would not talk about the fact that my mom died, but I would talk about the fact that my mom lived, and that was good for me, and so that became a point that was behind me. Sandy and I are very, I think, I think very close to a decision. And you can see me, the people that seen me this year, in the few times you have seen me, you’ve seen me full of doubt, you’ve seen me in a position I haven’t been in much, and that’s back. But in this room today, you see my shoulders are back, but I’m leaning forward. And, uh, it’s a good day, as emotional as it’ll be, it’s a great day, and it’s nice to be swingin’ again, and feelin’ that you’re not sacrificing other things, while you’re swingin’. Which is a feeling I’ve never had.

What’s that? Well, yeah, I, I think, uh, first of all, to anyone out there, I, I can’t carry a Christian’s shoelaces, but as long as God’s in your life, you always got hope. But the truth is, man, the hardest day in my life is still probably a day anybody would take, cuz, my life has never been hard. God only gives you what you can handle, and thank God he doesn’t think I can handle very much.

Question: Garth, did losing your mother have on your decision to kind of reestablish your relationship with your kids?

Garth: Um, you know what, I think the impact that my mother had was um, you know the great thing about mom she was always in your corner. Even if you were wrong. And she let you know you were wrong. But still somehow mom’s get away with it. Still make me feel good about yourself. You know that thing.. So that’s probably what I missed most. Um, the thing with my mom that I think, uh, I have come to grips with is the fact that I don’t miss anything. And the reason I don’t is she put it on full-tilt every day. So, when she left, there was nothing left that was left undone. That’s what I realize about my mom. That’s the way I want to live.

I’ve done my career with the whole saying ‘burn bright, burn fast.’ I wasn’t going to be somebody that we could come to really appreciate like Billy Joel or James Taylor; and know that their stuff was timeless. I knew mine was going to be up and it was going to be gone. Thank God for the rocks in this business like Reba McEntire and George Strait. But those people aren’t going to do that. Those people have that. I’m doing the, uh, I’m doing the ‘here today,’ and hopefully if I become a triviea question 10 years from now, I pray to God the guy gets it right. So um, uh, that’s it. But, my mother the thing that I can speak probably most about her, everyone who knew her, all her children um, know there was nothing left undone with that woman. And that is a goal, the way my fathers’ goal was how we felt as kids and how we felt as him as a father. My goal is for my children to feel, when I’m gone, that there wasn’t anything left undone. Like my mom was so cool in that way.

Question: Garth, the way things can change, why would you close any doors in advance? Why would you announce any terminations in advance?

Garth: I, uh, think the reason in the office, you know the people, you know Bob, and you know Kelly. And and how close we are. They asked the same question. And I think the deal is really don’t want people to, to be saying “What the hell ever happened to Garth Brooks? He’s fallen off the face of the planet, or what happened?” This way, I can be honest with them. They know where I’m at, they know where I’m not. And I never, ever want those people we toured in front of to think I don’t think about them. There is something about the relationship between me and those people that fill those seats, that I can’t explain to you. But I see them outside The Opry, I see them outside the gates at the house. And they hold your hand, they put their hand on your face; they know you that well. And I don’t want them to ever think that it was just forgotten. I want them to know that that was a great part of my life. It is something that I’ll pass onto my children. But where I’m at right now is not with them, because I am where I’m supposed to be, and that is with my family. Thanks for asking me.

Question: Do you know the definition of a vacation, and if so, can you describe a good one?

Garth: Um, I don’t’ know, the definition of a vacation is signing a record deal with Capitol Records and the next 11 years that follows. That’s a vacation. Um, ever since I signed on with Capitol Records, I haven’t worked a day in my life. And uh, the only thing I can tell you what a vacation is, it’s gotta be a vacation away from something. And why in the hell would you want to get away from this? You know?

So, my dad understood what a vacation was. He held down two jobs. He worked all day and moonlighted at night. My moms’ job was to, somehow run a house with 6 kids. Feed them, get them to school on money that was already gone. So a vacation for them was piling us in the car and , and driving down to New Orleans. You know, enjoying that and taking pictures and stuff. Or going to, you know, Robert Cays’ State park(I guessed here at the name, wasn’t sure), there in southeast Oklahoma, taking pictures, and uh, making memories. I understand that, but for me, it’s not a statement of humbleness, it’s a statement of honesty. I’ve been on a f#@$$&! Vacation for 10 years, you know? And it’s, I got all the pictures to prove it. I got three beautiful children to prove it, that’s been very well routed by getting to go everywhere around the world. And uh, it it’s a great question, but it’s probably for somebody else. Because I can’t imagine, I can’t imagine a vacation is to get away from what you do, and I can’t imagine wanting to get away from this.

Question: Garth, good morning. Tyler England, will you continue to work with him?

Garth: Ty, Ty and I are friends first. And uh,uh, I am the guy suggested and tried to set up his relationship with Garth Fundis. Because Ty England is a huge fan of Keith Witley’. I thought that marriage would be nice. Uh, with no offense to Garth, or Byron, uh that produced the second album, on those two albums, I never heard the Ty I know. And uh, he came to me and said, “you know, would you mind tryin’ three or four songs?” And we tried it, and it was fun. Um, I’ll do whatever he wants to do and we’ll chase the music as long as he wants to. The problem with that is, if I think I work a lot on a record, the producer works more. Allan Reynolds has always worked harder than I have on stuff. So, uh, the great thing about Ty is, we can sit down and I can tell him, “just don’t think. Or, I think, if we do it this way, I’ll be able to.” And he’ll be fine with that. Because he’s got four children himself. So, uh, we’ll see. The first record, you know, is a tell-tale thing of his. I’ve seen it, from his quote, that he made the record he wanted to make. Which makes me feel good. And when I hear those songs, I hear the guy that I grew up with. So, uh, Ty will make the right decision on that.And we’ll see how the first record, if it’s accepted,then we’ll deal with that. If it’s not, Ty knows as well as anyone in the industry that he’s not gonna get another chance, you know, after this, in this. So he’s got a lot of soul searching to do. But the record that we made is a good country record full of singles, very good singles that I would love to hear on the radio. And the favorite thing I like about Ty’s record is, if you hear it on the radio, you know you’re tuned into a country station.

Question: Congratulations on hitting the one hundred million mark in album sales. I wanted to talk abut that for a second, because when we actually heard that it happened, it seems, it was rather uh,quiet. It came quietly. We announced it, but it wasn’t a big fanfare to it. And I had read that you thought, um, I guess kind of, to paraphrase it, it just wasn’t the stellar moment that maybe everyone else had built it up to be. So how will tonght’s celebration make this a memorable occasion for you?

Garth: Right, okay. Thank you. There’s there’s three points about tonight that I’m really looking forward to. One, is the actual reaching of the milestone. It’s…very nice. It’s something that I never thought would happen. It was a goal that we set out in front of us so you’d know you’d always have something to run to. Um, never at any point, was it a reason for making music. But, knew that if you took care of the music, that goal would take care of itself. So, it’s nice to be there. My favorite thing, is that finally all the people, well most of them, that’s responsible for this mark are in the same room together. And I’m very kind of happy and jovial inside that they’re in uncomfortable black tie tuxes. It’s gonna be good. You know, to see Allan Reynolds in a tux is going to be great. And then, the third point, which I’m sure everyone in this room can relate to with Garth Brooks, is the fact that, I don’t want to say it was a misstake mentioning this goal, but ever since I have mentioned it, the focus has been on the numbers. And I’m hoping, that after tonight, it’s celebrated and it’s gone. And the next time we talk about Garth Brooks it isn’t about a hundred million units, it’s about Garth Brooks and the music that he, if I’m lucky enough to be creating at that time, is the music that’s being created. And that’s how I’d like it, because you know what? That’s how it started. And I’d like to see that again.

Question: The next album, your unfarewell album, radio will play a big part in that. Do you plan to do anything special with us in radio?

Garth: If it is, it won’t be, it won’t be, let’s address what you do special with radio. It will not affect the music. Music is never created on what radio wants, what works with radio. Because if you do that, you just create a cycle. And I think the greatest thing that’s ever happened to radio, and never comparing myself to them, the greatest thing to happen to radio, the Beatles. You know, when they come up with something that’s so different, yet sounds real good to us. And it wasn’t dependent on what was on there before. So, as far as the music, radio will have no influence in it whatsoever. Now, as far as what we do to promote the album, yes. As far as what we do talk about the circles end.

Let’s say, the country radio seminar. The last two or three years I haven’t been there because I was playing baseball, uh for the charity. And then we were at Saturday Night Live I think the third year. But we always came and did liners. That day’s going to happen for us this year. Uh, because the circle is coming back. And uh, we played the ASCAP luncheon. Um, that’s been offered to us again this year. And you know what, I think we’re really gonna take them up on it. Um, because it was a good thing for me. It was where we introduced a song called “Friends In Low Places.” And uh, it’s been nothing but good memories for me. And I think it can be that way again, and and timing seems to be right to make it a tradition to come back and not say farewell, but do our thing for radio, because of all the people that aren’t at the party tonight, the biggest heartache, of course, is radio. But, if you invite one, you invite them all. So, uh, I would like to do, uh, something special solely for radio. Because my 100 million mark, you know, Wal-Mart’s numbers don’t lie. And Wal-Mart says that 86% of country music sold is because of the country music radio station in that area. So, you take care of those people the best that you can, you know, competition is getting really high out there. So to try and pull back from trying to take care of radio, because if you do one for one, you get nailed by the other. So, I’ve tried to be as fair as I can. But, are we at the 100 million mark without radio? No. Are we at the 100,000 mark without retail? Not unless I’m buyin’ em all. You know, and that’s it.

Question: To go back to the word retirement, and perhaps further clarify it for the people who will read what-what people uh like myself in this room will write and say in the days ahead. Should people perceive you right now as speaking in absolutes? As in, I’ll never tour again. Or-or is it more in the more the order of using the word retirement at this time to say I’m on the verge of stepping back indefinitely and I just can’t see way, way down the line?

Garth: This room is filled with the exceptions to the rule when it comes to journalism. I got my degree in the school of journalism. It’s not as a whole what we’re taught in college it should be. It’s not the-the valiant thing that a lot of people in this room represent. And um that’s why you guys are here. Because there is, a lot of people in this room that represent what we were told in college what journalism should be. I would love to be able to say retirement is just stepping back right now. But we all know what’s gonna happen, you know? We’re gonna see more, uh I’m trying not to sound too egotistical, like someone really gives a damn. But, where gonna see more of the covers ‘It’s Over,’ and because, you know, without the dramatics anymore, nothing sells anymore, and we all know that. That’s why I appreciate the offer, but I think me and you both know that no matter how I answer that question. And and it’s going to be here. And what I’m proud about today, is I did say it. And I’m ready for it. And to come out of it, would mean that my youngest child, if it’s Allie, um is in college. And being I’ll be, I’m thinking 820/830 pounds by then, you know, I don’t think running around the stages is uh going to be my thing. Uh, but see, I’ve always been a guy that’s going to find my uh way to be busy. So, a fair question, because you know me too well. So, I will find a way. Whether it’s script writing or whatever and I’ll dive in to it. But what I’m really proud of is knowing whatever I go into next, it will be from the start second in my life. And that makes me feel very good right now. So, uh whatever it is, I’ll stay busy, because I have to. Or else, I get in trouble. And uh whatever it is, I feel sorry for. Because you know me. I’ll-I’ll tear it inside out. It’ll wish it never met me. Uh, but I’ll enjoy it. But it will be second for me.

Question: Garth, Hi. Could you foresee I time when you could live mostly in Oklahoma and not very much here? And would that be closer to Tulsa or closer to the city?

Garth: Um, we live north of Tulsa. I will live where my children are at. Whatever situation Sandy and I are in, I will live where my children are at. So, if it is, for the record, a divorce, and if a new partner um I am lucky enough to find, uh that new partner will know up front I live where my children are at. I am, I am a father first at this point. And uh, you know, I really pray to God, for my own happiness, that that doesn’t change.

Question: I was just wondering, is there any spring training in your future?

Garth: Well, this is what we were talking about. The charity, so far, on the average, the first two years, has raised 6 million dollars a year for these kids. For which a 100% of the money goes to the kids. To miss spring ball next year because of this record, by working on it is going to be, could be a serious casualty to the charity. But the truth is, and this is no secret to anybody here who has seen me play baseball, I sing, you know. That’s what I do. So uh, um the charity will go on the back uh uh burner, behind the scenes.

Now, with my relationship with the Mets. Uh, will they allow me to go down there for a week and do some stuff? They might. But again, you know, being a weekend warrior is just never running when you spread yourself too thin, that’s what you become. So, we’ll see. Is there some sort of miracle the record could be done by spring training? Sure there is. If that happens, I’ll go to spring training. But I can tell you right now, the fight that I have in front of me is going to take more out of me than any record we’ve ever done, emotionally and physically. And I just don’t want to this year. If it does come up, then uh we’ll go out and search our teams. Uh, there’s been a lot of teams that've been very sweet enough to show interest. Interest means paying the uh donation to the charity that the other teams have paid. So it’s a serious, to pay that much money they gotta be serious about it too. And we’re very much thrilled with the level of seriousness the major league baseball teams have shown this third year coming up. Um, just to let you guys know, on a side note, these guys have given away, and will have given away by the end of this year, Um and this is with the future year, players have given away $6,000,000. But the cool thing they’re gonna do is the other 5.5 million bucks goes into an account that now generates money for the kids. They do that so interest, in case of ever a strike, or the charity doesn’t have a good year, it’s not affected as much because 100% of that money is the childrens’ money. And 100% of that interest is also the childrens’ money. So, it’s it’s a good thing major league baseball and it’s players are doing. All we hear are how these guys are-are a$$&%$#s and they get too much money for what they do. But I’m telling you, as a guy who has been to the mountain to see them and touched them, they’re sweet human beings and they care a lot about kids. And they’re showing it with every time they’re going to the plate.

Question: You have some unfinished business with The Lamb. And if your schedule was right, you are supposed to be filming your part in it this summer. Could you tell us what is happening with that? And also fill us in on the great rescue in Oklahoma with the kids from Colletsville?

Garth: Um, first of all The Lamb. We did get the first draft in from Jeff within the last week. So uh, you know, Paramount’s the only people who can tell you if that’s a go or not. All I can say is that, no matter how long, form this day forward, that you do not hear from me, if Paramount calls for The Lamb soundtrack, I will step up with all the pride in the world and do my best, and uh do the Chris Gaines soundtrack for them. Um, I am very proud of that project. And it’s very well represented out here tonight, as you will see. Um, so with Hollywood, their problem is everything is so slow. And it’s hard for me to adjust to. Whatever time period they work on, if it’s the Chris Gaines project and they call me, I’ll be proud to step up and do it.

Okay, this thing about what happened with the fire. What I’m about to do is very unprofessional, but if you don’t hear this whole story, I’m missing out. What you guys got was very sweet. The truth is I was going to a hardware store that had a fire sale. And from there, the story came. Truth is, I’m sorry, this is gonna be a long one. Truth is, I walked out of the house. Had my buddy, Ted was uh visiting from L.A. And Emmett was with me. We saw a fire we thought was in the north meadow of the farm. We got in the truck, hauled out there and found out it was a section over. Well, once we got there, we noticed we were like one of the first people there. So there was a fire coming down, the size of this table, if you’re looking at it from the sky. The field was shaped that way. Well the fire was sweeping down form a wreck that happened upwind. And sitting out in the middle was two houses. And we didn’t know how to get there, but we knew we had to get there because no one else was there yet. So, we went through a hay field and was hauling hay. And just shot through the gate, went up. And by this time, the fire is now, about 30 feet from both the houses. The flames are as tall as the telephone poles. I’m scared to death. Right when we come up to the house, you pull up and go” oh good, nobody’s here.” You know, and you start to through in reverse. And that’s when the mother ran out. Well, the two kids ran out and immediately Ted jumped out of the truck and just went for them. Well, Ted’s a$$ is a little smaller that mine, you know. And so I’m worried about runnin’ out of here, so I throw it in park just to make sure everybody’s okay. And of course, you ask the question, knowing full well the answer is no, “is there anybody left in the house?” Yes, there was one kid left in the house. And it’s like “oh my God, now what do I do?” But it was amazing. You just kind of over. You went in, popped the door. You ran in, and found out the kid was getting out of the shower. “Whoa. Wait a minute.” You know, so we got him out of there. And he was in our truck. The two kids that Ted got were in the other truck. And we met ‘em about 40 yards past the house, out in the field. When I ask “what about the house right across the street?” And I’ll never forget the ladies face. She goes, “there still in there”. And me and Ted looked at each other. And this and this was were the story just gets unbelievable for me. We turned around and looked, and both houses disappeared into the smoke. But we knew we had to go in so we just drove in. And the great thing about that that I learned is, in emergencies you can do anything. You can tear up people’s front yards if you want. So we blow in there and do the big power slide in the front thing. And I jump out and there she is. It’s it’s a lady holding an 8 day old baby. And there’s a 5 year old and 3 year old kid beside her. And they’re just staring at the fire. And so there just staring, I don’t know why they’re just standing there. And we go up and bang on the window and she looks down and and, I don’t know if she’s just extremely calm or what. But, I can’t get her to get out of the house. So, Ted just runs around and opens the door we kind of take ‘em out. And right at that moment, a fire truck comes between us and the house. Out of nowhere and saves the house. These fire guys were awesome. So we got her outta there and sent somewhere downwind to get her to a safe place, and waited to send her back to the house.

When Ted looked up and said “Oh God, oh, it’s kicked up again”. And now it was moving down the field. Now here is where the story gets to be the story. There were two elderly people out in their front yard with this wienie kind of water thing. It was just drizzlin’ out water. And they were trying to wet down the road and everything. And the smoke is starting to come across. Then I look at Ted. Thank God, Emmett was there. I jumped out and said, "Emmett, take this family and get them out of here”. And he took them out of there. Well Ted went to get uh the elderly couple. But when I finally caught up with Ted in the backyard, I said, “where is the wife?” He said, “she went back in the house.” I said, “I’ll get her.” So, as soon as I open the front door of the house, she’s leavin’ out the back. So, I’m running through a strange house that I know nothing about. And the fire, you could see it through the window, it’s about on the house. And uh when I come out of the door, she is dragging this dog. It’s all the poor lady wanted, was her dog out of the house. But her dog can’t walk. So now by this time, you’re starting to choke and she is too. And pieces of stuff are starting to fly on you. And this dog is moving at about 2,3 inches a minute. And I didn’t have the heart to tell her, “ ma’am, when the fire touches this dog, he’s going to out-run us both, you know that” But she uh, she just couldn’t leave this dog and the dog couldn’t walk. So, I asked her “will the dog bite me?” And she said, “oh no.” So, I reach down to pick this dog up. Well this is one of those dogs, that when you pick it up, you better bring your lunch. I pick this dog up and went “holy!” And now, all of a sudden, the dog is like” God I never felt a dog this heavy. It didn’t look this big.” So, we’re trying to get to her car because neither one of us can breathe anymore and I’m worried she’s gonna pass out. So, I get to the car, and I’ve got the dog. And I put it in and stuffs fallin’ on the barn. And I slam the door and I look over, and this little lady is standing by her door. And I’m looking at her and go “oh my, okay”. And I get up and run around and get her door. An and as she’s getting in the car, this woman that was so sweet, as she’s getting in the car, she gets down and she pops back up from the door and goes “we just watched you on TV tonight.” By this point, I can see nothing but fire. And and this lady was so sweet. She gets in the car, I close it I go around, get in my side, and ask her if there’s another way out of the farm. And she says there isn’t. So we turn around and face this fire, which was over the telephone poles at this point. And we just drove right into it. And when you got on the roads, you couldn’t see anything. So, you kept your tire on the shoulder to know where you’re at. And I told her to keep her hands against the dashboard in case a fire truck came through, ‘cause we couldn’t see anything. And pretty soon, there was a little drift of smoke that opened up. And you could see the road. So I punched it and got her out of there. And felt felt awesome. Jumped out and was happy and noticed there was no Ted. There was old, there was no older man, who was with her. I say where is he, and he said he never came out of the fire. So, it’s weird how your body takes over. It just started runnin’ back toward the house. Well, then between me and the house was a five-strand bobbed wire fence, that I was hell bent that I was going to hurdle. And uh go from there. Well my front leg got over it and my back leg got over it. And I was still runnin.’ And I’m going (giggling) “I made it.’ You know, and then this burning sensation started happenin’ back here. And I looked, and now, some of my pants are now left of the barbed wire fence out there. Well, you’re so scared at that time. I found Ted, and the old man came out. What happened then was, the fire jumped the road. And we were now caught. We were over here, and now the fire was on both sides coming in. And I was hell bent on getting those horses out of the barn, when I realized, “we’re screwed.” And out of those dudes, we got two older guys here, that we’re just going to have to carry, or something is gonna happen. And then, out of nowhere, this fire truck shot through the front yard. This guy is trying to do the gear and drive the truck at the same time. I said, “you need any help?” Knowing he’ll say don’t touch the gear. He thew me that hose and he said, “pull that trigger and hang on”. And I thought, wow, ya know. So I grabbed this thing and and just started. And it was a time when you knew you were gonna win. And all of a sudden, it became fun. And when it was over, I told that old boy, “man, whatever they’re paying you guys is not enough.” He said, “who said anything about pay?” And you looked on his truck and the thing said volunteer. And the truth is, these guys do this every day. And they save lives every day. And out of a hundred to three hundred acres of grassland, not one house was lost. And these guys were amazing. And of course, they don’t get reported on. And it makes me look like I came in on a vine, you know, and saved everybody and flew out of there. But now you know the real story. And probably, uh the way I’ll look back on it more was just sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. And to look up and see that lady waiting at her door, to be opened in all that, made me realize what really was important. And uh, I loved her even more for that. And uh, just just good people. And and we did what everyone else in that community would have done if they were there, when we were there.

Question: Hi Garth, hi honey. I’m going to ask you things like I hear that you got a studio out in Oklahoma. That you’re going to have a home there and a home here. Uh, that you are building a museum in Oklahoma. Um, I hear that you may be acting. And I want to know the answer to all these questions.

Garth: Okay, that’s fine. All the answers are no. There’s no studio at the house in Oklahoma. We we’ve refurbished the old cowboy house there, that was on the farm. And uh if Sandy and I, when we make our decision will depend where, um our future building is going to be. Um, as far as a house here, we we will stay here, you know, long past the music is over. Because this is my childrens’ place where they grew up. Polly Edwards is enough reason to stay here for my children. She’s been their nanny forever and they love her to death. And the whole Edwards family have been great to me. So that would be reason enough for me to live here, too. Um, they’re closer to their grandparents’ back there. And uh, there is no studio there. Here, there is no museum here, or there. The only thing that might be truthful in that, was looking at turning the house here, uh into something like that um, for the fans. Um once it turned the entire neighborhood into a commercial zone, we all knew that it wasn’t gonna happen and shouldn’t happen. And that was the end of it. And so that’s it. So all those rumors, none of them was.

Acting, uh, acting. If you think music takes a lot of your time, acting, you go on location and you don’t come back. And um, I’m sorry as much as it might disappoint my people out in L.A.; acting is just not, you know, I just don’t see it happening. Because, again, I don’t want to be a weekend warrior with that either, because that’s an art that deserves your full time. Ted Larkin, he was actually a rigger for us on tour. He was the guy that put out the fire at Central Park, oddly enough. And uh Emmett Gilliam, he was a uh driver for us and become stage manager. He lived in Tulsa the whole time, so when we moved out there, so needed someone to take care of the farm, so it made sense it was him. So, we worked together out there.

Question: Hi Garth, Shannon, over here. I want to ask you a question about recording. I heard recently that you may be recording again with New Grass Revival. Is that true?

Garth: We do have a session set for them in uh a piece uh. With Neal being here, uh Neal was the one that would not let whatever was coming at the end of the year go. With the year, being pushed back, the big finale to say thank you to our people um, will probably come some time at the end of this year. What that is, I’m not open to discuss yet, because we have the album to make. And that’s what our focus is on. But is there a session scheduled in November with New Grass? Yeah, not as much New Grass as it is, th the hard thing with New Grass is, if you broke those four guys up, still in their field they still might be the foremost guys to play those instruments. So, any time you bring them in because they’re the four most talented guys for the part, people say New Grass. The truth is nobody sings better that John Cowan. Nobody plays meaner mandolin than Sam Bush does. Bela Fleck, enough said. And uh, Pat Flynn. Uh you know, just guys a musical genius. So, these guys are being hired because they are. Douglas is going to be with them. Flux as well. Uh um Sam Bacco, now Sam is going to be the interesting key in there. Because uh, any time you add percussion to these guys, especially Sam Bacco, you’re gonna get something pretty magical happenin’. That’s what we’re countin’ on.

Question: I have kind of a tougher question. Uh, I guess you’re aware there’s a backlash at country music today that country’s gone too pop, too rock. And you know songs like these called ‘Murder On Music Row.’ And I don’t know why, but uh a lot of people have blamed you for you know, starting this whole trip that country took away from the traditional roots. I personally don’t feel that justifies, because you’re country. But I’d like you to answer you’re critics there that you started this whole trend of taking country from it’s roots. And then the second question is, I know it’s kind of early but, do you think your album will go into more traditional type music, uh this next album? Or or, of course that depends on the songs. But do you have a theme, or something like that?

Garth: Thank you Dan. As far as the next album. We’ll just address it now. It’s so new. The decision to do this has been thought of all year, but like always, the album will be the result of where the Nashville songwriter is pretty much at that time. So, uh so we’ll see. The album, I have no answer for you. As far as what Garth Brooks has contributed to the things going pop. To me it’s a pretty easy equation. And anybody in this room and wants to stand up and go, “that’s not how I remember it,” it’s fine with me. ‘Cause I I we need to get this straightened out anyway. Um when we do our thing, in the early ‘90’s, there are no pop stations playing our stuff. I mean if they are, they’re playing ‘Friends In Low Places’ and it’s a gag, you know, every other week. But our Arbitron ratings are up, and retail is up. Now, what we’re seeing now is a lot of pop airplay, and our Arbitron ratings in country music dropping. So you tell me which was better for country music. We were blamed being a crossover, but in my rememberance, what was crossin’ over was the audience was crossing over from pop to country. Now, the crossovers we’re seeing are Arbitron ratings drop every month. So you gotta tell me. One of the things that, to me, is just simple rule of format. Is, have any of you heard any of the pop stations around the nation go, ‘that was a country artist, and we play country music?’ Anybody? Uh, pop is never going to give country a break. And they’re never going to say we play country music. So, one of the good ways of judging is, you know if it’s on there, how’s it country music? The Dixie Chicks, I think, are showing us all that you can remain traditional, you can still be country and still be cool and hip. And accepted by the masses. So those lights are shinning for us. Leann Womack is a shinning light for us. Brad Paisly is a shinning light for us. These people are people that, that’s why we’re all here together. Because some of us are gonna hold the light. While others of us search. And it doesn’t mean who’s holding the light is better than the people searching. It’s just their turn. So don’t be don’t be ashamed to hold the light and don’t be ashamed to search. It’s a good time right now. Now let me explain this.

I come into the studio last month. And Allan Reynolds is..you guys know Alan Reynolds. He’s he’s as pure as it gets. And I’m depressed about where the format is. I’m depressed with the Arbitron ratings. I’m depressed with retail. And Alan Reynolds is (smiling). I’m like, what the hell is wrong with you? Man, don’t you see what’s goin’ on? He says, I sure do. He says, this is when times like this is when the opportunity opens up for something to pop. And he’s very happy. And and, I don’t know if you guys got people in your life, when they’re happy, you’re happy. When I heard Allan Reynolds was happy, it made me look at the format a little different. It’s getting’ ready to pop. Thank God you got your anchors holding it down. Thank God we still got Strait. Thank God, we still got McEntire. But more and more people are comin’ and grabbin’ the balloon. And uh, my only fear, and uh I want the industry to hear this, my only fear is country music’s future could be like folk and bluegrass. Where the format totally disappeared. We got to be proud that we’re country. And we’ll be alright. But if we’re not, it’s gonna disappear on us. You guys have been awesome to me uh, I am fine with answering any other questions if you guys have them. Karen is kind of like the General here and she’s on a time frame, but you guys have been sweet. And I know she’ll be she’ll be fine with taking care of the people that if somebody didn’t get a question to ask.

Question: At what point did you make the decision, the final decision to retire, as it were? I mean, did you know last December that was what you were going to do? And you were giving yourself 9 or 10 months to see if you changed your mind. Or did something happen that made you finally say, this is what I want to do?

Garth: No, uh, it’s just uh I always prayed, and anybody that’s followed Garth at all, knows this has been a comment that’s come up over the last decade a million times. That I pray to God for the class and the insight to know when it’s time to get out. And talent wise, I don’t know, that’s not my call. Music wise, again, that’s not my call. But, when something all of a sudden, you realize, it takes over and is first. Some artists can do that. Thank God, George Strait can do that. I just can’t. If it’s me and it’s music, then to hell with everything else and sacrafice it. We’re going in. And I can’t play on that level anymore. And I’m not ashamed that I can’t. I’m proud and thankful I can’t, for the reason I can’t. Um, but that’s where I’m at. And uh, I knew that then, but I really wanted a year. Because one of the things that’s been held over my head, by my own family, is that I’m impulsive. I knew a decision like this would take time. So I surrounded myself with the people that meant everything to me. And talked to them, and talked to them, and talked to them. And I feel very, very good at this day, about this decision. If time changes it, I will beg your forgiveness and see how I’m accepted. But uh right now, today, after a year of thought I feel very good about today.

Question: Garth, hi. One final question. Um international market. You know you got a lot of fans outside the USA, and with your commitment to the family and children, is it possible, we may see you just for TV or something like that? Do you have any thought on the international market at the moment?

Garth: Well I think, if there are thoughts, uh one of the things we were talking about. One of them is if we do this mini-series for one of the networks, is to do it definitely in a different location. Uh, but again, Europe, you know, we’ve been together for 11 years now. And you’ve handled all of the international stuff for us. And you know that when I come over there, I want to hit everything and everybody. I want to go pull people out of their houses, bring them to the concerts. And with your hands tied, when you can’t do it at that rate, uh, it’s just not fun to do. I don’t want to do just just the hot spots, because so many times in country music and so many times in Garth Brooks’ music, the hot spots are not where Garth is happening, you know. Mind you, there’s a lot of smaller, once you put them together, they’re a majority. But they’re not at the same place at the same time. So um you know me, if I can’t get ‘em all, I don’t want to do it. But um international has been great to us. We got a lot of new fans in international on the Chris Gaines project, which I thought was was very unique and different. One of the reason why international we’re not where we’re at here is, what the record you make is the record you make. And if and if you take your record and you go over to Europe and you strip the fiddles and the steels off of it, what the hell are you sayin’? You make a record you press it and that record is listened to in Japan the way it is here. And if it’s accepted there, good for me. If it’s not, I’m being who I am. And uh I’m okay with that.

Question: Garth, if retirement is not necessarily touring, not necessarily recording, that you have one more album coming out, go back to your journalism school and give the words, since you told us we can’t use the words last record or farewell record. What is it?

Garth: Uh, best record might be nice to hear. Um uh I don’t know. I just uh you know it was like the thing that happened with “Thunder Rolls” and TNN. My thing was to ask the journalists to please I don’t want to see the headlines “Garth Banned From TNN.” The headlines were “Garth Banned From TNN, but in there he said Garth didn’t want this to be said. And then he explained it very well. Uh, truth is could this be possibly, at this point, our last record? Yes, it could, but do I want to sell a record on the fact that it’s the last record or the farewell this? No, with no offense, I’ve been on farewell stuff in this industry. And didn’t like the way that it was couched, with no offense to anybody. It’s just not the way I like to handle things. So, what I’d love for this to be is a studio record that stands side by side with ‘The Chase’, with ‘Sevens’, ‘No Fences’, ‘Ropin’ The Wind.’ I’ll go through the entire catalog. So, we’ll make sure we get the advertisement in. Best would be nice, all capitals.

Question: I saw you at The Opry taping last night. You were obviously having the time of your life. Can you say some words what it was like up there? Have, singing ‘Friends In Low Places’ with Bill Anderson and Porter Wagoner and everyone onstage?

Garth: It was awesome. Yeah, it was five of us. And there’s four mini-verses in ‘Friends In Low Places.’ So, for me to split the first verse with Johnny Russell, which is the guy that inducted me into The Grand Ole Opry, made all kinds of sense in the world. Uh you know Johnny’s going through dialysis right now. And he’s busted his back to make those appearances. Well, the song was too high for him. And he played it off so well, and it was funny. But I think one of my favorite things what I loved about Johnny Russell is he knew what he was doing. He was setting me and the audience up for John Connolly to sing the way he did. And when he hit that first line, I I just went, ohhh, I just, you know, I was stunned. “Cause we done rehearsal and Connolly was holding back playing, so was the audience. And when a guy gets appluase like that and standing ovation for parts in two lines in a song, the guy nailed the dog out of it. So now we knew we were up and runnin.’ It was gonna be fun. And no matter how bad Garths singing was, everything was going to be okay. Enters Bill Anderson, right, and Bill goes for the money. He goes right to the bank, you know. Um, eveythings all right. And it was like “Yeah, baby.” It was was so much fun. And Porter, poor Porter couldn’t keep a straight face during rehearsals. Thank God, he didn’t keep a straight face on his thing. And these guys, these four guys, which deserve it every time they step out on stage, get’s a standing ovation. And one of sincerity, you could feel it. And uh it was a proud moment for me to be onstage with those guys. And also, the 6 or 7 members behind them I’ve traveled around the world with, just saw one of the most incredible moments that they’ll ever see. And uh, it was a cool night. The fact um that you stated you are internet is um another thing that I would like to bring up to you.

Um, we have never done an official internet site. But there is a gentleman named Brandon(go Brandon, go Brandon!!!!!)that’s done a thing called Planet Garth, uh for a long time. It’s the unofficial web site. Everything I’ve ever seen or heard from it has been the utmost class and quality. We are talkin’ right now about having a marriage with him to be the official Garth site for the new internet audience as well. Um, he seems to be a good man. At this point he seems to be a fan. Which, when we meet, I’ll change that. He’s uh he’s been very sweet, so uh probably for now on since it seems to be our people are the ones that go to uh Planet Garth, we will make sure our people knows everything first. As soon as this press conference went on, we posted what you guys have in your lap for them to know. And uh they’re doing a live audio right now as we speak. So our people heard from from me uh about our decisions for the future. And that’s hopefully how we’ll keep it from now on, since we’ll be a little more pulled back. Through this last year we will keep our people informed, as much as we know. Which you guys know, changes very quickly and sometimes not, you know.

Question: Garth, thanks for coming and spending the time with us. Everything sounds very logical, very well thought out. But, how do you give up the extaordinary emotional bond you have with you and your live audience? Which is probably stronger than anything I’ve ever seen in anyone in show business create. How will you happen to do that?

Garth: You’re right. Thank you for saying that. You’re sweet. Um I think you find your strengths in other things. And the weird thing that I’ve found, they have sought or seeked whatever the appropriate word is, me out. I see these people a lot. I just don’t see them in the arena though. I get cards from them. I get letters from them all the time with poems about my mom. And these people will not let it go. And that’s one of the things I’m very thankful for. And these people keep showing up. They have found me in Oklahoma, which I’m very proud to see them out there. They find you at The Opry. They find you at the grocery store, you know. I couldn’t find a single damn one of them during the fire, thank you very much. But uh uh, so they do, and they seek you out. And they will continue that relationship and that’s what I’m very thankful for.

But John, let me tell you what happened the first, 6 weeks ago, when my girl’s first soccer game. Down at baseball, I got introduced to the wrap-around Oaklies that you see all the atheletes wear. And I can’t play in them but I love ‘em because, my eyes are real sensitive anyway, but they block out everything. My child’s first soccer game, I had them mashed to my head because I was crying so hard during the whole game. And I realized, in that one game, I had more fun than on 10 years of touring. And you realize these times in your life. When you’re standing onstage and you realize “Oh God, thank you! This is where I’m supposed to be.” Standing on that sidelines, yelling at my poor little 8 year-old girl. You know, crying my eyes out. I looked down at the grass and it’s one of those times when you go “Oh God, thank you. I’m where I’m supposed to be. And that is what is going to replace it.

Question: Um so much of the charity work, and the individual stuff that you’ve done, that I’ll embarrass you by asking you about, uh is tied to high celebrity. I’ve been with you when you’ve been on taping days that are 18 days, 18 hours long. But you’ve stopped and called kids in hospitals, and someone will hand you a number and you’ve made a phone call. When you retire, will this be affected?

Garth: You talk about trivia question answer. Yeah, that’s a tough one. Uh um, the thought has been givin’ it up. And if it is, if my power, I mean, I don’t want to drop, try to drop names, but a good friend of mine is Travolta. And Travolta is scared to death that you don’t lose your power. You transfer it over somehow. And he’s scared to death with the word of retirement that you’re gonna lose your power to do these things in charity and stuff. He may be right. But the truth is, all I can be is honest with you guys. So, if Garth Brooks in no longer a celebrity, then it’s like ‘Tender Mercies’ when they say, “were you really Max Sledge?” And he says, “ yeah, I was.” If somebody asks me, “hey, were you really Garth Brooks?” I’ll say, “no”. I’ll say “yeah”. And I was proud of that, then. You know, but it’s a good point. And a risk that you will take. We’ll see. We’ll see how that goes. I would hate for that to happen because the great thing about charity is, it’s a win win for everybody. So uh, we’ll see how that goes. Is it, is it, is it reason enough for me though, to try and hang on to that celebrity status for that moment? You know the answer to that. Sincerity should be a part of charity, you know.

Question: Can you just give us an indication of what’s going to happen tonight? And special guests, surprises? Well, you don’t want to give away surprises?

Garth: No, uh I heard the foods free, that’s why why I’m showing up. Um uh, we were at the campfire ‘til about 4 this morning with uh some of my baseball buddies. And uh Steve Wariner came out there. It’s sweet. I lost my keys last night and he offered offered to drive me home. And I said to him, “I’m kind of going to a campfire. He goes, “that’s fine”. Well as soon as they saw it was Steve Wariner, he didn’t get to leave, and he, Karen was sweet. Didn’t complain. He was out there to 3 or 4 in the morning. Uh so, it’s just going to be full of people, when you turn around and look around ya, you laugh, and you smile. It’s just nice getting them in the room. Will there be a performance? I hope so, because music is why we’re here. You know. But will it be more in the Garth style of the songwriters doing their songs? Oh, yeah. ‘Cause, trust me, there is nothing better than to hear “The Dance” sung by Tony Arata. That’s the only thing that master is missing. It’s a beautiful cut of that song, but if I could rip Garth’s voice off there, put Tony Arata on there, that record would be a perfect record.

Question: You said earlier that some of the songwriters are going to come to Oklahoma so that you can be close to your kids. Are they coming out to pitch you songs, to write with you, or both? And how much do you think you will write for the next album?

Garth: Uh, the day that Mike Dungan called and said uh ‘we are on,’ uh all the terms and as a record label and as an artist, we agreed to move forward. I’ve had a list of nine songwriters that I’ve had forever. With the exception of Dwayne Blackwell and Larry Bastion, which I was unable to get a hold of, um which I will. I sought out these people, gave them my phone number, fax number. And uh, these new things, it might not be new to you guys, but for us out there, the personal mailboxes that take anything, FedEx, UPS. Calls you when you get stuff. Um, at 70 bucks a year is a great deal, too. And uh these uh so they can send me anything. If it’s a half-written poem, if they can fax it, get it to me. Any pieces of inspiration I’ll take. So, they’re pitchin’ me everything, old and new. And again, I make the plea and the cry to the songwriter of Nashville, you got a home. If people think, I’m crazy and get 20,000 tunes, good for me. Because my odds go up of finding 10 great songs out of 20,000 than out of 2,000. So, there are two places to deliver. For me, personally, it’s 1111 17th Avenue. That’s Bob Doyle’s office. It goes in a box and shipped out. No one listens for me. And I listen to everything. For Jack’s Tracks, I think it’s 1308 16th Avenue, it’s the corner of Horton and 16th. Alan Reynolds listens to all his stuff, and then we get together.

Question: What about your personal number?

Garth: laughing) I just gave it to you, and we’ll keep it at that. And that, I can speak for Alan Reynolds when he when, we’ll both agree that this album is going to need 10 times more work from the songwriter than anything. And if there’s any songwriters out there that uh need me to talk to their publishers, and tell their publishers to go somewhere for a month, and let ‘em write what they wanna write, instead of what the publishers need to make money on, I’ll stand up for them in any way I can. No uh, I haven’t written. The only thing I’ve had a part of writing in the last 4 or 5 years is thing called “When You Come Back To Me Again,” that I wrote for my mother with Jenny Yates. Um, again, as an artist you worry about if the format has gone somewhere you can’t go. If it’s past you by, with your age. And also, as a songwriter, you do too, you know. Uh, ‘cause we all we all saw what happened last night. We all saw John Connolly hold a captive audience. So, why doesn’t John have albums out and do singles? This thing passes you by. It’s not a kind of slap in your face. It’s not a statement you’re not what you used to be. It just simply comes and goes. So, if my time has went, or if I still have some time left, that’s what we’re getting ready to find out. You guys have been very sweet to me. Thank you very much.

**As a HUGE Garth fan, this day was bittersweet. On the one hand, I want Garth to be the happiest he can be, as I'm sure alot of his fans do. But on the other hand, the thought of not seeing him grace that concert stage any time soon, if ever is devastating.

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