Brooks focus on Blame set
Mum on 2014
LOS ANGELES, Nov 27, (AP): Garth Brooks isn’t ready to talk specifics about his looming comeback, but there should be more than enough music this week to sate the country superstar’s fans for a while.
Brooks is set to release a new eight-disc box set Thursday, then will broadcast his Las Vegas show live on CBS on Friday night. Both are an examination of the Oklahoma singer’s musical roots with covers of songs that have influenced him.
Brooks was in Los Angeles on Tuesday to talk about both projects, and admitted he was worried about giving fans a little too much Garth.
The 51-year-old said he and wife Trisha Yearwood and his children will push the Thanksgiving holiday to Saturday “which means I might have an ice cube (on Thursday),” he said, chuckling. “Dude, when you’re 260 (pounds) you’re always watching your weight and, for some reason, you think you’re going to make a difference the day before by not eating.”
The two-hour “Garth Brooks, Live from Las Vegas” will emulate the mostly solo show Brooks played during a three-year run at the Wynn Las Vegas.
The new box set will reflect that show. Titled “Blame It All On My Roots,” the box contains four new studio albums featuring Brooks’ cover versions of recordings that shaped him as an artist — revealing an array of influences including George Jones, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and Bob Seger.
The box also includes a rerelease of the 2007 two-disc compilation “The Ultimate Hits” with a bonus track called “Leave a Light On” and a DVD with a two-hour presentation of the one-man concert. The eighth disc includes Brooks’ music videos.
Retailer
It’s priced at just $24.96, and can only be bought at Wal-Mart, its sister retailer Sam’s Club and walmart.com. Brooks says his feelings about iTunes haven’t changed, so he won’t make the set available as a download or stream.
“So, until they change or I change,” Brooks said, “or some other company comes and gives them some competition, then I don’t think you’re ever going to see us on iTunes.”
Brooks said he isn’t ready to talk the future beyond Friday yet.
The youngest of the three daughters of the superstar and his exwife, songwriter Sandy Mahl, is set to graduate from high school next spring and then get ready for college. Brooks mostly retired in 2001 near the height of his popularity to be with his daughters.
“It says that Sandy, Trisha and myself did what we promised each other we would do,” Brooks said, by putting the children first.
Soon it will be their turn, but Brooks spoke in generalities about what he and Yearwood will be doing with their free time.
“Me and Miss Yearwood are free to do whatever it is we want to do,” Brooks said. “And I’ve got to tell you: Anything I do with that woman, I’m fine with. Any place that I am with that woman is home to me. But if I have my wishes, it’s going to be filled with music, and it’s going to be filled with music at a level I’ve never seen before.”
You never know who you’re going to meet while waiting in line at John Varvatos’ store in West Hollywood. When Zac Brown bumped into Dave Grohl while picking up some altered clothes for the Grammy Awards, he didn’t let the random meeting go to waste.
They bonded over their love of analog recording gear, and their new friendship eventually resulted in Zac Brown Band’s newest release: “The Grohl Sessions Vol. 1.”
“I don’t know how I tricked him into working with us, but it’s really cool,” Brown said.
The four-song EP is due out Dec 10 on iTunes. It’s the first of two planned releases produced by the Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer. The second volume will come next year, along with physical releases, including vinyl and a documentary.
Grohl traveled to Nashville this month after a full-court press from Brown. They recorded four songs together in a week at the band’s analog studio, taking a break in the middle to perform one of those cuts, “Day for the Dead,” on the Country Music Association Awards. The EP will include two other original songs and a cover of The Wood Brothers’ “The Muse.”