Brooks’ bipartisan appeal

Garth Brooks didn’t mean to cause a delay at President Biden’s inauguration, said Emily Yahr in The Washington Post. After singing “Amazing Grace” at the January ceremony, the country music superstar was making his way to the exit when former President Barack Obama said hello. So Brooks, known as the nicest guy in Nashville, did what came naturally. “I hugged his neck. Hugged Miss Michelle,” he says. Then he spotted the Clintons. “I go over and hug them and tell them I love them. I look over and there are the Bushes. I worship that family. So I go hug them.” The moment went viral and was a perfect illustration of Brooks’ unique ability to bring people together. At a Washington, D.C., concert a year earlier, numerous Republican and Democratic members of Congress were spotted rocking out in the audience. “I couldn’t tell who was red or blue,” Brooks, 59, says of that gig. “The thing that unites people is singing together.” Still, the singer isn’t naïve—he knows he may have lost fans by performing at Biden’s inauguration during a hyperpartisan time. “If I do something that pisses you off, that makes you want to burn the CDs, burn them. All I can be is myself. And if you dig that, great. If you don’t? World’s big enough. Thank you for the chance to listen.”