‘Humble’ Garth still putting fans first
It was a slam-dunk — and one certain not to be in Frank Sisson’s favour.
“I turned to my wife Lorraine and said, ‘That kid’s not coming back to our place,’ ” says Sisson, the former owner of the Silver Dollar Action Centre. “Then I said, ‘Well, it was a nice thought to try to get him to come to Calgary.’ ”
The year was 1990 and the Sissons were watching the Academy of Country Music Awards on television. That ‘kid’ had just picked up trophies for entertainer of the year and best single, along with best video, song, album and male vocalist.
Still, Garth Brooks, who had to cancel his Western Canadian debut to get back to the awards show in time, proved to be full of surprises.
“He promised he’d make it back and he did,” Sisson says of Brooks, who performed for an audience of 1,500 at the Silver Dollar a few months after being crowned the new king of country music. “He was, and still is, a man of his word.”
I heard this story from Sisson earlier this week, as part of my quest to understand the musical phenomenon known worldwide simply as Garth — the No. 1-selling solo artist in U.S. history and, at 160 million records sold, one of the world’s bestselling artists.
I was familiar with so many of Brooks’ hits and I’d heard plenty of stories about the now 55-yearold’s “aw shucks” southern charm and self-effacing, downto-earth nature.
Still, as thousands of Calgarians excitedly await the seven sold-out Saddledome shows starting Friday featuring Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, his wife and music partner, talking to folks like Sisson has made my Garth journey all the more satisfying.
“He really is that guy,” says Sisson, who had a four-decade stint as a casino and entertainment icon of Calgary. “He remembers everyone he’s met over the years. The only problem you’ll ever have with Garth is getting him off the stage.”
In 2009, Fred Konopaki got to see Brooks perform in front of a small audience and also met the legend.
“I was told a guy was coming to play the guitar and sing some songs,” says Konopaki, who at the time was running the Palomino Smokehouse. “This guy rolls in wearing a hoody and a ball cap and says, ‘Hi, I’m Garth.’ ”
It was a top secret gig, a thankyou from Brooks to the Calgary Flames for supporting his Teammates for Kids Foundation.
While Konopaki knew all of the songs Brooks played before an audience of about 50, it was an opportunity for him to see that, nearly two decades after playing the Silver Dollar, superstardom had done little to change the essence of the man.
“He was completely humble,” Konopaki says, “just a regular good old boy from Oklahoma.”
While he’s yet to meet his fellow country crooner, Paul Brandt is another local whose life and career have been impacted by one of the most influential country artists in history.
“I believe the new path he blazed in the 1990s gave me amazing opportunities in my career as it launched,” says Brandt, who was recently inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and is currently on the road promoting his new single, The Journey.
For his legions of loyal fans, hearing that Brooks possesses so many admirable personal qualities is icing on the cake.
“I remember hearing him on the radio for the first time back in 1991,” says Annette Wagner, who managed to score tickets for one of the Calgary shows. “I was a Def Leppard and Simple Minds fan. My tastes didn’t run to country music, but all that changed the first time I heard Garth Brooks.”
A veteran of his live shows, Wagner says he makes the audience “feel like we’re doing him a favour being there, so he can perform for us.”
That’s a quality Frank Sisson knows only too well.
“There’s nothing Garth loves more than playing his music and sharing it with his fans,” he says of the former kid who not only came back, but keeps coming back to entertain his Calgary fans.
“He’s a real standup guy.”