60 Songs That Explain the '90s - “Friends in Low Places”—Garth Brooks

Episode Date: March 6, 2024

In the penultimate episode of 60 Songs, Rob takes it way back. Listen as he recalls the first song he remembers consciously hearing as a baby before diving into the world of Garth Brooks and 90’s country music. Later, Tyler Parker joins the show to discuss what Garth Brooks means to Oklahoma and much more. Host: Rob Harvilla Guest: Tyler Parker Producer: Jonathan Kermah and Justin Sayles Additional Production Support: Chloe Clark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, humanoids. This is David Shoemaker. The pro wrestling world is currently on fire. And so we've got you covered five days a week on the ringer wrestling show. Every Monday and Thursday, hang out with me and Kaz on The Masked Man Show. And this is Peter Rosenberg, the host of Cheap Heat. Join me and my guys, Stack Guy Greg and Dipperstein on Tuesdays and Fridays. We talk wrestling. We have bagel breakdowns, mage interviews, and so much more. And Ben Cruz here. Come kick it with me, Cal and Brian, on Wednesday. Worldwide, where we hit the most interesting headlines and even react to some of mass mans, cheap heats, or even your hottest tics. Don't tap out. Tap in to the Ringer Wrestling Show feed. Now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.

And stay mage, everyone. Worldwide. I want to know the first song I ever heard as like a baby. The first song I was conscious of hearing. I want to know the first song I ever loved. I don't think I exist, really. Even as a baby, I don't exist until I've got a song I love. Is this first song I love a lullaby?

Is it like a recorded piece of music? Or is it just something my mom is singing to me? Or is it a recorded piece of music? Did I hear it on my parents' stereo on vinyl or cassette? Or did I hear it on the radio? Did I hear it on the car radio? I bet it was in the car. Who's driving the car?

My mom or my dad. That's important. These are entirely different experiences. Mom driving versus dad driving. Let's say it was dad driving. Dad's got a fiat, a blue fiat, a rusty blue fiat. My only conscious memory of dad's car is I can vaguely picture it parked in our garage totally dismantled. Parked is the wrong word. Deconstructed in our garage, like with enough pieces missing that it is no longer. longer a car, but apparently dad did drive it and he drove me around in it. Dad's got his tape collection in the front seat. I'm in the car seat in the back. Rear facing or front facing car seat? Let's say rear facing. Did they even do rear facing in the late 70s, early 80s? Did they even do car seats at all? Was I just tied to the hood? Let's say they did car seats back then. Rear facing. I'm looking out the back window. I am a literal baby looking out the car's back window. and I do not exist until I hear this song. What song?

We're picking the song. Yeah, we're making choices here. We're constructing this memory. So what's this song? Sift through my dad's tape collection, pick out a tape, pop it in. I got it. Here we go. The song fades in.

My literal existence as a baby, as a human, as a human being with a soul. I fade in as the song fades in. Steve Miller Band. swing town. First song on Steve Miller band's greatest hits, 1974, 1978. It fades in.

That drumbeat fades in. It only takes 10 seconds to fade in, but it feels longer. There is a pleasing, prolonged, primordial ooze quality.

This is the sound of my eternal soul crawling out of the swamp from whence it came. The dawn of man. The dawn of man. me. This tape, it's a very popular tape, the Steve Miller band's greatest hits. Blue cover, a cool looking horse and profile, red circle background, and the cool horse's mane has got some orange

flame-like action going on. Great cover. Great tape. Trust me, your dad owned this tape, even if he didn't own any tapes and he didn't like Steve Miller. He still had this tape. It's the damnedest thing. This is a great choice. I'm into Swingtown as the first song I ever loved, hugely appealing to babies this song. Baby me has got phenomenal taste. Is Steve Miller's voice auto-tuned there? Obviously it isn't on account of this being 20-plus years before somebody invented autotune, but nevertheless, he's autotune there. Annie, don't get mad at me, Steve. I get the sense that Steve Miller is a little grumpy nowadays. I forget where I read that or why I think that. Maybe they finally inducted him to the rock and roll

Hall of Fame and he was a little grumpy about it. Let's not investigate. Never Google your heroes. Okay, so, but I exist now. And the first song, Baby Me hears and loves and is cognizant of hearing and loving is Swingtown by the Steve Miller band. And honestly, that's not even one of their biggest

songs. You want to hear the Joker? Baby Me does. Some people call me Maurice of the pompous of love. How are you going to tell me that's not massively appealing to a baby. Whet! Wow! Nailed it. The Joker is even better. I'm loving this band.

Dude, I'm living for the Steve Miller band. I'm a slightly older baby now. I got a pacifier and something called a sleepy time sheet. And I got a stuffed bear I've named Biscuit Sticky. That's a true story. The stuffed bear's name is Biscuit Sticky. For reasons, I don't feel like getting into right now. I'm a little older now. I'm a toddler or whatever. My car Seed is front facing, presumably, and I'm cognizant of all sorts of music that I love, and I love my dad's tape collection. My dad's tape collection is extremely dad rock. Once again, 20 years before this term, Dad Rock flourishes in the discourse. But come on, ask me about my dad's tapes.

What do you want to know? What's that? Did he have any steely Dan? That's what you're asking me? What kind of question is that? Of course, Dad's got Steely Dan. My dad told me once that one of his favorite songs is My Old School by Steely Dan from 1974's countdown to ecstasy with the back cover where the members of Steely Dan were terrifying. They're glowering non-charismaticly.

They look like zombie car mechanics. They look like they personally dismantled my dad's car out of malice. I was not into Steely Dan visually. My dad tells me that one of his favorite songs is My Old School. And for some reason, I'll remember this conversation forever. It's one of the most profound, the most intimate conversations I've ever had with my dad, a genuine window into his soul. I talk to my dad all the time.

He tells me all kinds of profound stuff. But our talk about my old school is especially important to me because that's the sort of little kid I am. One time I'm driving with my dad, he puts in one of his tapes. We listen to a song. I like the song. I ask him what the song is called. He tells me.

I forget immediately. And that night I'm lying in bed. I can't sleep. My parents have got some friends over. They're out in the living room and I can hear them from my bedroom. They're not like raging or anything. They're playing cards probably. But I can't sleep because I can't remember the name of the song dad played me.

And so eventually I get out of bed and I tiptoe out to the living room in my footed pajamas. And I get my dad. And my dad takes me back to my bedroom and tucks me back in. And I say, Dad, what was in the name of that song? and dad just looks in me a little funny, and he says, uh, the low spark of high-heeled boys.

In my defense, that's a hard song title for a little kid to remember. Yes, the low spark of high-heeled boys. A 1971 jam from the English proto-dad rock band Traffic. Featuring Steve Winwood,

but way more importantly, dig the drummer there, man. The drummer is going off. Step aside. You don't got to give the drummer some because the drummer already took it. Can you imagine the drummer's facial hair, majestic? The drummer sounds like every Muppet simultaneously, not just animal, but all the other Muppets as well. Traffic is a boring band name.

A little kid's not going to remember the name Traffic. You know what name a little kid will remember, though? Meatloaf. Let's not get bogged down. meatloaf again, but let's just say that as a child, I had no idea what the meatloaf song Paradise by the Dashboard Light was talking about, nor did I have any idea what going all the way tonight could possibly entail. We're going to go all the way to Arby's tonight, I guess. That's like 20 minutes away. I got no idea. My dad loved meatloaf very much because if you fathered a child in the 70s,

you were spiritually obligated to love meatloaf very much. Same deal with this guy. Oh my goodness gracious, it's Bob Seeger, the almighty Bob Seeger. S-E-G-E-R, that trips me up every time, not A-R, E-R, Bob Seeger, the pride, the heart, the soul of Detroit. Picture his majestic facial hair. My dad loves Bob Seger very much. And I remember so clearly the day my dad played me this song, Against the Wind, 1980 and dad told me how much he loved this line right here.

Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then. I can picture the look on my dad's face as he repeats this line to me as he imprints this line on me. The reverence, the wistfulness in my dad's face. Dad is conveying to his tow-headed little son something profound, something important about growing up, about maturing, about growing old, about remembering, about forgetting, about regret. This also is one of our most profound father-son conversations. And the whole point of the line is that in this moment, as a weird little kid, I don't know what the line means,

but I certainly know what wish I didn't know now, what I didn't know then means now. For example, I know now what it means when Meatloaf sings were going to go all the way tonight, but I didn't know then and kind of I wish that I didn't know now. See? Great line, Bob Seeger. I listened to a lot of Bob Seeger with my dad when I was a kid. I want you to try to picture me at like five years old. And every cell in my body is desperately trying to absorb the absolute thunderbolt of pure uncut nostalgia that is the guitar riff to Main Street. Main Street is an impossibly tender, lovely, wistful and nostalgic Bob Steger Ballot about, quote,

a long, lovely dancer in a little club downtown, end quote. And I'm five years old. And I'm like, oh, so she's a ballerina and dad goes, yes. That's right, son. She's a ballerina. And then we moved on.

This is a car seat song to me. Permanently. Canonically. Turn the page. 1971, Bob Seeger lamenting the high price of rock stardom, the harsh and degrading and exhausting touring lifestyle, the debasement, his debasement naturally, as he thinks about the woman or the girl, he knew the night before. Bob knows a lot of ballerinas, I imagine, just a ballerina heavy lifestyle. I hear turn the page now, like right now, and I feel the armrests, dude.

I instinctively reach for my juice. I hug my stuffed bear named biscuit sticky, a little tighter. I still feel like I'm a little kid sitting in a car seat in the back of my dad's Fiat at night, way past my bedtime, and it's pitch black in the car, save for the dashboard light. And Bob Seeger is murmuring. He's wailing. He's moping nobly. And I ought to be asleep in my car seat, but instead I'm transfixed by the moodiness, the eeriness, the noirish melancholy,

bombast of this song, the iconic nostalgia thunderbolt of that saxophone riff. Nailed it. And to this day, there will always be one-tenth of one percent of my consciousness that feels really bad for rock stars because of how genuinely moved I was by Bob Seeger's plight on Turn the Page back when I was five. Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm sorry. I screwed that up. Obviously, that's the Metallica

cover of Turn the Page from many years later from 1998. It's a totally different vibe. Metallica's cover of this song Playing Star again. Wow, that's a terrible impression. I don't know how that got in there.

I do apologize. The nuances of many of Bob Seeger's songs are often lost on me as a five-year-old. The fire down below. They got one thing in common. They got the fire down below. What could

that be referring to. Athletes' foot? He's probably singing about athletes' foot. That's a weird thing to sing about, but go off, Bob. You know my favorite Bob Seeger song when I was five? Betty Lou's getting out tonight. This is my favorite part of Betty Lou's getting out tonight, the bridge, the childlike boisterousness, the excitement. Betty Lou sounds pretty cool. I'm really glad she's getting out tonight. It sounds like she's going to have a great time. But my favorite part of this song as the guys go, yeah, I would be so good at being one of those dudes. I don't mind telling you, what do you think about that, boys? Y'all, nailed it. No, I didn't quite nail it. I'm supposed to sound like I'm excited about seeing a pretty lady. I'm not supposed to sound like I'm falling out of a

helicopter. Let me work on it, but I'll get it. I can do that. My goal in life, this is an active goal. This is an unfulfilled dream. My goal in life is to be a boisterous, background dude someday. I am available to enliven your boisterous rock and pop and electro rap songs. This right here, this could have been me

in the background right here. I could have done that. Shop it old Navy. That should have been me. This also is not Bob Seeger, obviously. It would be pretty rad if that was Bob Seeger. This is Beck. The Beck song Hollywood Freaks from 1999, the year after Metallica's cover of Turn the Page,

just for your reference. Bob, get back in here and get us back on track. Sing the song about going all the way tonight, Bob. Working on a night moves. Trying to lose an awkward teenage move. Night moves. 1976. This is the one, right?

This is the one. Night moves is an impossibly 10. lovely, wistful and nostalgic Bob Seeger ballad about two teenagers who love Arbys. Every day they're at Arby's. Just going to town at Arby's. They get the curly

fries. They get the Jemoka Shake. It's coffee and chocolate. It's a fantastic milkshake. The Jumoka. You know AOL Instant Messenger? My screen name on AIM was Jemoka Pants, man. Because in high school, a

salty young lady threw a large jimoka shake at me and it exploded on my pants that's an absolutely true story that sucked i did not deserve that the jimoka attack was unprovoked by me just to clarify you don't need to know that but i need you to know that i woke last night to the sound of thunder how far off i sat and wondered So the subtext of this song, the text of this song eludes me as a kid, all right? And we'd steal away every chance we could to the back room, to the alley, to the trusty woods. Oh, they're getting their Arby's to go. I am not aware in my car seat era and also some distance beyond my car seat era that night moves refers to teenage amorousness.

But more importantly, I do not get the double meaning of the title Night Moves. which refers both to teenage amorousness you are moving together in the night and to the unrelenting march of time that leaves you to reflect wistfully on your long-gone teenage amorousness as you lie awake at night the night's move because at its core dad rock is a fluid is an evolving genre because dad rock is just music that makes dads reminisce about their lives back when they weren't dads yet. Started humming a song from 1962

and funny how the night move. And here's what you want to avoid doing. Don't do this. Don't do the math. Never do the math. Night moves. A song released in 1976 when Bob Seeger was 31 years old,

in which he reconnects wistfully to his teenage years by humming a song from 1962 from 14 years earlier. I shouldn't have done the math because I am now older than Bob Seeger was here, considerably older. And if I'm going to connect to my teenage years now as I lie awake in bed at night, I got to start humming a song from like 30 years ago from 1992. So suddenly I'm humming like jump around or hay jealousy or pavement summer babe.

Summer Babe is the night moves or the 90s. That's not true. Forget I said that. That might be true, actually. Forget I said it anyway. Don't do the math. Never do the math. When you're lying in bed at night, forget about the math.

Just focus on the thunder. I knew who he was. Of course I knew who he was. He was very popular. He was huge. I was not unaware of his hugeness. Sure, it's the early 90s and I'm in junior high in Garthbrook. is already huge, but not to me. He's not mine. I do not claim him. See, Garth Brooks is country music.

And as a teenager, I got nothing against country music per se. I am agnostic. I'm respectful. But country music is happening over there. I'm physically gesturing way over in that direction. I am gesturing across town. I hear the thunder rolls. I hear the super bonkers popular 1990. Garth Brooks hit The Thunder Rolls. from his second album, No Fences, which sold 18 million copies in the United States,

but notably sells zero copies to me personally. And I hear the twang in his voice and my brain just turns off. This implies that at 13, my brain is on to begin with, which it is not, but okay,

so my brain turns more off. I'm busy in the early 90s, man. You see this flannel I got on? You see this pearl jam stick man t-shirt I got on under this flannel have you accepted alternative rock as your personal lord and savior i hear the twang in this guy's voice as he delivers the words morning and looking and moonless summer night and my

brain briefly turns on just so it can more emphatically turn all the way off 3.30 in the morning Not a soul in sight The city's looking like a ghost town On a moon with summer night Did I see The quite infamous music video For the Thunder Rolls on TV

Back when the video for the Thunder Rolls Was a big whoop back in early 1991 Did MTV play it? No? Well, then no. I didn't see it. If the Thunder Rolls video had been really important, MTV would have put it in the buzz bin. Yes?

No, the Thunder Rolls is a moody, eerie, noirish, melancholic, and also a super bombastic power ballad about a cheating husband who returns to a suspicious wife at 3.30 in the morning on a moonless summer night. And the wife ain't having it. And I've been listening to Garth Brooks near exclusively for the past two weeks and taking absolutely worthless notes because I keep just typing the words,

wow, he sings the hell out of this over and over and over. But wow, he sings the hell out of this. But all the wind and rain a strange new perfume blows and the lightning flashes in her eyes and he knows that she knows. The line delivery of he knows that she knows.

dude, that ought to do it. That's the moment you go country, the moment you turn country, if you weren't already country. That's the moment you are physically teleported across town to where the country music is. Garth Brooks sings, he knows that she knows,

and a cowboy hat just materializes on your head. Like, ding, my defense is that I was like 13. My defense is that popular music was tribal in the 90s, dude, I don't know if this has ever come up, but for both sociocultural and economic reasons, generally in the 90s, music-wise, you pick the thing and just stuck with the thing and bought $20 CDs painstakingly one at a time in accordance with your thing. And this just so happened to be not my thing, except of course it was fucking my fucking thing.

Raised on Bob Seeger, Meatloaf, the Steve Miller band, Jim Crocey, James Taylor, Springsteen, raised on you two. That was mom, not dad, but oh yes, you two. Raised on Messianic Arena Rock, led by short guys with palpable God complexes. Ooh, Garth Brooks is six feet tall. Withdrawn. I'm sorry I said he was short. I apologize.

Raised on classic rock. Raised on quote unquote dad rock. I'm back in my dad's fiat. Back in my car seat. I got my juice back of my hand. I got biscuit sticky by my side. and Garth is rocking up the radio, even if I'm too dense to identify

what he's doing as rocking. And since it's a moonless summer night, it's pitch black outside Dad's Fiat, except for, you know, the thunder and lightning. The thunder rose and the lightning strikes. Another love grows cold on a sleepless night. But I don't see the vision. in 1990. I don't hear the vision. I do not identify Garth Brooks as my shit, even if, thanks to my father,

Garth Brooks is immediately, obviously, eternally my shit. It will take me a while to wrap my head all the way around this. It will take me years to accept Garth Brooks also as my personal Lord and Savior. But I'll get there. And Garth will wait for me to get there. Garth is patient. Garth is kind. Garth does not envy. He does not boast. He is not proud.

Garth does not dishonor others. Garth is not self-seeking. Garth is not easily angered. Garth keeps no record of wrongs. Not all of that is true. For one thing, Garth boasts all the time. It's fine. He's earned the right to boast.

In my first step toward Garth, the first crack in this wall I've constructed, between Garth Brooks and myself, it's not a conscious thought. Just an inkling, somewhere deep in my still not on yet brain, the day I'm at a bar or a wedding or a baseball game or a cookout

or a family reunion. Or hell, maybe I'm back in the car with my dad and I hear it. I hear another super bonkers popular Garth Brooks song from 1990. And even if I'm not aware at the time that I'm thinking it, some tiny vital part of me thinks,

man, I want to be one of these boisterous backup dudes. My name is Rob Harvilla. This is the 119th, the second to last episode of 60 songs that explained the 90s. And this week, we are discussing friends in low places. By Garth Brooks from his 1990 album, No Fences, which sold 18 million copies in America and did eventually sell a copy to me personally. I bought it on MP3 via Amazon music because you certainly can't stream this record elsewhere or buy it on iTunes or whatever because that is how Garth rolls. Two immediately eternally brilliant things about this song. Number one, the lengthy pause after the words, my blues away, where you are encouraged, nay, compelled to go woo, that is the best part of the song.

the two seconds between my blues away and I'll be okay where everyone with an earshot of the song gets to go woo just a god tier songwriting move that two seconds the other eternally brilliant thing about this song the word oasis i'd be so good at being one of the boisterous background dudes who go oasis right there dude i would excel at singing the word oasis I'm a teenager now. My dad listens to CDs now, and I'm rifling through my dad's CDs one day, and I find this CD called Common Thread, The Songs of the Eagles. Came out in 1993. My dad loved the Eagles also, obviously. My dad loved the song Hotel California, but he was bummed about the version of Hotel California that the Eagles did on MTV

Unplugged in 94 because the guitars weren't rocking enough. But yeah, dad loved the Eagles too. Sure, obviously, but this common thread CD is Eagle songs as covered by country music stars. And let me tell you that I was shocked to find a country music CD in my dad's car. Truly shocked. I was scandalized. It's like I looked in my dad's glove compartment and found a gun. Why don't you come to your senses? What the hell is this? Dad, the Eagles doing desperado? Yes, obviously.

Country superstar Clint Black covering the Eagles desperado? Oh, no, absolutely not. That's absurd. Dad doesn't like country music. Listen, I'm a teenager. And obviously, my brain still ain't turned on. There is, obviously, zero difference. musically or sociologically between Don Henley of the Eagles singing about riding fences and Clint

Black singing about riding fences other than maybe Clint Black sounds like he's actually ridden a fence at some point in his life. Clint Black was raised in Katie, Texas, in Southeast Texas, but he was born in New Jersey. That's funny. Clint Black released his debut album, Killin' Time, in 1989. Can I share with you just a very beautiful Clint Black lined? delivery. That song's called a better man. I've had that Clint Black line, Clint Black singing, don't know if I should say anything at all,

playing in a loop in my head for a couple weeks. It's super pleasant, actually. Clint Black is rad as hell. And also country as hell. Clint Black and Garth Brooks both put out their debut albums in 1989, and they both go on to Blockbuster careers. But Clint's got a way different vibe. Clint doesn't necessarily have Messianic Arena Rock aspirations. You know who else might have Messianic Arena Rock aspirations, though?

This dude Travis Trit. Take it easy. Take it easy. Seriously, Dad, the Eagles doing Take It Easy? Glenn Fry from the Eagles singing Take It Easy? Yes, obviously. Country superstar Travis Tritt covering the Eagles, take it easy? Oh, no, absolutely not.

This is country music. Travis Tritt was also born in New Jersey. That's not true. I don't know why I said that. Born and raised in Marietta, Georgia. Can I read you? This is obnoxious and I apologize in advance. Can I read you a quote from Travis?

Trit from this very excellent book called Dreaming Out Loud. It was written by the journalist Bruce Filer, came out in 1998. Full title is, Dreaming Out Loud, Garth Brooks, Winona Judd, Wade Hayes, and the Changing Face of Nashville. Fantastic book about 90s country music. Wade Hayes was a young aspiring country hitmaker in the early 90s. Who did not achieve Blockbuster success, but he seems very nice. Okay. Travis Tritt comes up in this book a lot as a lovable ruffian as a defender of true country, as a bit of a bad boy, as an outlaw, if you will. And Travis is talking about reading the autobiography of Wayland Jennings, Deified Outlaw Country superstar Waylon Jennings. And Travis says, quote, there's one section where he says,

I had a reputation for being able to take more drugs and screw more women than anybody in the business. And Travis says, I just thought, that's me. man, because I could drink more liquor and screw more women than anybody I knew. And I had them lined up. In case you wondered, it is possible to have sex with three people in one night. I know because I've done it on numerous occasions. End quote. I don't know why Travis's thoughts there are resonating with me, but I could screw more women than anyone I knew. strikes me as a rather meatloaf type sentiment. And Travis Tritt is a lovely voice. But now I really want to hear Clint Black sing a song called I Hadam Lined Up, or perhaps a song called On Numerous Occas Cajuns.

Anyway, here's a huge arena rock and Travis Tritt song called Here's a Quarter. Call someone who cares. And you say you'd be happy if you could just come back home. Well, here's a quarter. someone who cares. Travis Tritt's mullet is audible here. Is it not? Majestically audible.

This is his first big hit song, came out in 1991. Travis also broke out alongside Garth Brooks. And Travis gets us closer to the country star as rock star mentality. And having sex with three people in one night on numerous occasions certainly helps make his case.

But sonically, he's not quite working on Garth's scale. He doesn't have Garth's sense of soap opera melodrama. You know who does though? Reba does. This is Reba McIntyre singing Take It Easy on the Voice a couple months back with John Legend and Gwen Stefani and one of the other dudes from One Direction. This video kind of broke my head a little bit. I don't want to talk about it actually. Give me fancy. Plain white trash, but fancy world. Holy moly, you could binge three different soap operas on three TV stacked on top of one another for 24 hours straight

and not generate the pure bonkers melodramatic radness of Fancy. Reba McIntyre had already put out like 15 albums by the time 1990 rolled around, but Fancy is the Reba song we need. Fancy has the galactic meatloaf bombast we require. Garth Brooks can sing as, beautifully, as classically as Clint Black. And he can talk as tough as Travis Trit. And he can tenderly rhapsodized ballerinas with the wistful bravado of Bob Seeger. And he can sell as many records as the Eagles, but he can also wield the glorious almost too muchness of fancy. Garth Brooks can overwhelm. Garth Brooks can radiate the sort of intensity that makes you very briefly, ever so

slightly uncomfortable. He is too huge in every sense to be purely country, but he is also way too huge to be anything else. Garth Brooks was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1962. He graduated from Oklahoma State with a degree in advertising, which he would use to advertise himself. His first album called Garth Brooks comes out in 1989 and ends with an incomprehensibly rad power ballad called The Dance.

This record sells 10 million copies in the United States. Yo, Darth Brooks sold 60 million records in half a decade. In the summer of 1991, Billboard magazine started using sound scan data to figure out its album charts, which, to make a very long story short, it just means they started using scanners and math and accuracy, and immediately Skid Row, NW. and Garth Brooks get number one albums. And Garth kept getting them because it turns out that country music sells way more records than anyone thought.

And Garth Brooks sells more records than anybody that isn't like The Beatles. Garth Brooks, in fact, has nine diamond certified albums. Diamond equals 10 million copies apiece. Nine albums. You know who else has nine diamond certified albums? Nobody. literally zero other people, nine albums, self-titled, no fences, rope in the wind, the chase, the hits, in pieces, sevens, double live, and the ultimate hits. Pretty much nobody sold more records than Garth Brooks sold in the 90s.

If you are inclined today to underestimate the fearsomeness, the ubiquity, the voluminousness of Garth Brooks's discography, that would be because Garth Brooks records are only available for streaming or download via Amazon music, because Garth Brooks enjoys being difficult. Garth Brooks put out a new album called Time Traveler in late 2023 that you could only get as part of a physical seven-cd box set that you could only buy at Bass Pro Shops, the sporting goods retailer. I just looked up this box set on Bassproshops.com, and it's on sale for $29.95. That's a great deal.

And there's a little you may also like section that's also trying to sell me a Duke Cannon Supply Company big ass gunsmoke brick of soap, $9.99, and a pair of redhead Venetian moccasins for men, 3499. Before you ask, yes, I will be personally expensing all three of these items. My concur tab is open. Actually, I am wearing the moccasins right now. They're quite comfortable. And I smell like my soap has the words ass and gun smoke in the name.

I am committed to the Garth Brooks retail lifestyle. In this great book, Dreaming Out Loud, the author Bruce Filer spends a great deal of time with Garth Brooks. And Bruce starts out talking about what he perceives anyway as classic country music's lingering attachment to outdated images and ideals. And then Bruce says, quote, Garth Brooks, by contrast, embodied the new Nashville and, by extension, the new South. Born in Tulsa, where the Southwest and Midwest collide. Garth was smart, college educated, and savvy, as hip to Hollywood as he was to West Virginia, one part movie star, one part fraternity brother, three parts, home on the range. No part hillbilly. End quote. That was only half the chorus to the dance that we

played so far. I'm sorry about that. I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance. That's the second half of the chorus to the dance. That song rules so hard. In the video for the dance, Garth explains immediately to the can. that the dance isn't just a heartbroken, better to have loved and lost type love song. To me, it's always been a song about life, or maybe the loss of, those people that have given the ultimate sacrifice for a dream that they believed in, like the John F. Kennedy's or the Martin Luther Kings, John Wains, or the Keith Whitley's. Think about that group of people, that forsome, that blunt rotation, John F. Kennedy, Martin, Luther King Jr., one presumes, John Wayne and Keith

Whitley. Keith Whitley was a great young country star who died of alcohol poisoning in 1989, a month after Garth's first album came out. This is an objectively bizarre group of deified public figures for young Garth Brooks to be evoking in the video

for one of his first giant hit songs. But objectively bizarre is kind of how Garth rolls. He's just a lot. All right? Almost too much. That is as close as I'm going to get to articulating this. Okay, this is the other monster jam on Garth's debut album. It's called If Tomorrow Never Comes. The theme, unambiguously, is, will she know how much I love her if we both die tonight? Normal romantic stuff. Here's how

this song starts. And here's my question. Is this romantic or creepy? awake and watch her sleeping. He sings the hell out of that line. Does he not? And it's romantic. Right? It's mostly romantic. It's 99% romantic. But it's possibly, possibly, one percent creepy, possibly, maybe, maybe not. But maybe. There's an inherent volatility to Garth Brooks for me. It's inherent to his charm. You're thoroughly charmed.

you're never quite at ease. He's vibrating at a very loud frequency, even at his quietest. Jump around with me for a second. Let's sample his various diamond-selling albums. Rope in the Wind, 1991. This song is called Burning Bridges. The opening lines are very funny to me, personally.

Yesterday she thanked me for oil in that front door. This morning when she wakes, she won't be thankful. anymore. I love that very much. That is Primo Country Fuckboy Energy. Excuse my language, but come on. He plays it so straight.

Rope in the Wind also features Garth's extra robust cover of Billy Joel's Shameless, in which Garth expresses his undying love for you, while apparently falling out of a helicopter. You better love him back fast.

that's my advice you better love him back before he hits the ground you know one of my very favorite garthbrook songs it's on his album the chase 1992 it's called learning to live again it's a monster power ballad about a heartbroken dude trying to get out there again and he's on a sweet but very awkward first date and he's dancing sweetly and awkwardly with this lady and now it sounds like both of them are falling out of a helicopter But I'm going to smile, my best smile. And I'm going to laugh like it's going out of style. I just picture a tornado blowing both of these sweet, awkward people off the dance floor and out of the bar and off into space.

Garth Brooks is the tornado. He is the lightning and the thunder. He is the night. He is the moves one might make in the night. He is the night's moving. Another one of my favorite Garthbrook songs. It's on the album Sevens, 1999.

It's called I Don't Have to Wonder. He is attending his former lover's wedding, or really he's lurking menacingly outside his former lover's wedding. Here's the part where he throws his former lover's ring off a bridge into the river. This song kicks especially disconcerting amounts of ass, actually. I don't have to wonder maybe the song where Garth Brooks finally goes full meatloaf. He's very sad.

He's very angry and he's very loud. Two out of three ain't bad, but Garth will get you three out of three every time. Give me a choir. Do you remember the Dean's scream when Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, was running for president in 2004,

and he did not win the Iowa Democratic primary, and he gave this super sweaty and raucous and disconcerting speech about all the states he was going to win starting now. And at the end of this bonkers pep talk, Howard Dean went, yeah! And that was the exact moment. Everyone was like this person should not be president or be allowed to operate heavy machinery. The Garth Brooks double live album, 1998, is a very excellent double CD live album. That is also pretty much a two-hour long Dean's scream.

Let's just put this thing on. Cue up track one, disc one, the song Colin Baton Rouge from his album in pieces from 1993. And from the moment Garth Brooks starts singing this song live, let's just see how long it takes for Garth to start running too hot. Three seconds. Took him three seconds to burn a hole in both the ozone layer and his shorts. This man is a professional. This man is the only true arena rock. stadium rocker alive.

And this is the dominant cultural image of Garth Brooks now, right? Garth Live in front of like 800,000 people at a time somehow. Garth is both six feet tall and 200 stories tall. And he's got the hat and the headset microphone and the palpable planet crushing gregariousness. He can be neither stopped nor contained. This book, Dreaming Out Loud. Here's something Garth Brooks says. he's talking about playing live he's talking about achieving about entering the zone he compares it to

michael jordan this is the mid-90s when jordan's in the zone and can't miss and bruce the interviewer is like what is the zone exactly is it god and garth goes quote i don't know but i know what only happens on things that i really give a shit about is it a passion is it total focus is it that thing that your dad always told you, son, if you apply yourself, you can do whatever you want. Is that true? You don't know how bad I'd like to know. You know, they talk about knowing what 95% of the human body can do, but only about 5% of what the brain can do, because there are times when I feel as if I can do anything. There are times I feel I could hang from the lighting rig, let go, and not drop. There are times when I have flown miles over trees, canyons, and water, and seen it all.

He goes on, quote, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky. I got into something I didn't know what it was. There's this thing they call the purple thumps you get when you're hot. I've never heard of this in my life. You see these purple veins. You get real winded. And every time your heart beats, those veins seem to glow in your sight. in Lexington, I got the purple thumps, but I kept pushing and pushing and pushing. And I walked over into this realm where everybody slowed down. I could see the ripples in their shirts, the sweat in their eyes. I could see the fillings in their teeth. I could be sitting there and out of my peripheral vision see someone lifting their hand. And before they did it, boom, I'd be pointing at them. It was the coolest thing. I had all the air in the water.

world. I could hold a note for an hour and a half. Then everybody jump back into speed, like film sometimes does. And all I could think about was getting back there somehow, back into that zone. End quote. Are you familiar with this song by Death Cab for Cutie, the indie rock band, Death Cab for Cutie? This early song of theirs from 2000 called Company Calls epilogue. I don't know why they called it that. That's a ridiculous ultra-emmo song title. I didn't name the song. They don't let me name any of this shit. This is a song about a sad guy who shows up at his former lover's wedding and gets drunk and causes a scene and humiliates himself. Screaming drunk disorderly. It goes on. Great song. I'm serious. I like that song quite a bit.

very somber, very serious song. Garth Brooks also has a song about disrupting a former lover's wedding. But one way to articulate the difference between country music and quote unquote indie rock is that country music is aware that this scenario,

that this idea of getting loaded and ruining your ex's wedding is funny. Blame it all on my roots. I showed up in boots. and ruined your black tie affair. A wedding has never specified, and I vastly prefer the phrase black tie affair.

But yeah, this is a wedding, dude. Garth Brooks' second album, released in 1990s called No Fences and has sold 18 million copies in the United States. It is the ninth best-selling album of all time in this country. It is just ahead of Come On Over by Shania Twain at number 10, and just behind Journey's Greatest. hits at number eight perfect that's actually perfect no fences includes the song the thunder

rolls no fences also includes the song unanswered prayers which is another of my very favorite garth brook songs but i'm feeling extra glib right now and i'm worried that if i try to explain why i like that song so much it'll sound insincere so i'm just going to tell you it's one of my favorites and keep it moving and yeah no fences has a song called friends in low places a song famous enough to have its own established lore. Singing with me, two songwriters, Duane Blackwell and Earl Bud Lee, are hanging out at a bar in Nashville.

It's time to pay the tab for all these drinks. It's a huge tab because they're songwriters in Nashville. Duane says to Earl, how are you going to pay for this? And Earl says, don't worry, I know the cook. I got friends in low places. What bar was this at? In some versions, it's Tavern on the Green, and some versions it's the Longhorn.

Was Duane even there? Probably, but in some versions, Earl's hanging out with other songwriter dudes, and Earl makes his funny joke, and Earl just tells Duane later about the funny joke he'd made. I do that. Dude, you should have heard this hilarious thing I said the other night. That's what this whole show is. A couple months later, Earl and Duane are at a party celebrating some other songwriter's new number one hit. And Earl and Duane remember the phrase, friends in low places, and suddenly they're writing the whole song on a napkin right there at the party. At least some of this backstory sounds super made up,

but print the legend. Man, write the legend on a napkin. You know who I feel bad for? This guy. Last one to show. Last one to know I was the last one you thought you'd see that. I feel bad for two guys. Actually, three versions of the song Friends in Low Places are released in 1990.

by, I believe this is in chronological order, David Chamberlain, Garth Brooks, and Mark Chestnut, respectively. This is Mark singing. Lovely voice, Mark. The David Chamberlain version was the B-side to a song called I Finally Made It, Parentheses, where you told me to go. Close parentheses. Great song title, David. I feel bad for Mark and David. Their versions of Friends in Low Places are less famous.

than Garth's. I think Mark and David should go on tour with those dudes who released the original version of Akey, Breaky Heart. I forget the name of that band, but it seems ruder to Google it now. And they should call it the No, Fuck You, Tour. But yeah, Garth's version, uh, endures.

And I saw a surprise and the fear in his eyes when I took his glass of champagne. And it's a phenomenal song right there on the napkin, right? There's a very pleasing class anthem vibe to friends in low places, the boots of the black tie affair. Champagne here in the first verse, beer and whiskey for the chorus. Second verse, you get the line, I'll be as high as that ivory tower that you're living in. That is a phenomenal collection of words. But you don't sell 18 million copies of the album this song's on unless you can sing the hell out of those words. I wrote this down in my notes.

Garth Brooks sings the hell out of this song. Dig the way Garth delivers the words you, honey, through, and complain. Like, there are four different types of top shelf alcohol. I toasted you, said, honey, we made me through, but you'll never hear me complain. Majestic. Majestic facial hair on all four of those words. Let's jump to the third verse, shall we?

The mythic and illicit third verse. Only the live version of Friends in Little Places has the third verse. The third verse is best enjoyed in a crowd of 800,000 people. But let's try and find a quieter version. Ooh, this one was recorded in Germany. And you got it in me to cause a big scene. Just wait till I finish this glass. And the true beauty of this song, the true beauty of Garth Brooks, the true beauty of country music as a whole, is that even if you've never heard the third verse before, even if you don't know what's coming, when you get to the word glass, you know. Of course you know what's coming. You know that Garth Brooks is about to enter the zone and he's taking you with him.

And sweet little way I'll head back to the bar Help me out now And you can kiss my ass And ideally you too Are Dean screaming the word ass Alongside 800,000 other people Just delightfully botching the word ass

Like you're spilling your drink all over yourself Like we're all falling out of a helicopter In 1999 Garth Brooks released a song called Mainst Street. It is not as good as the Bob Seeger song called that. In 1999, Garth Brooks released an album called Garth Brooks in dot, dot, dot, dot, the life of Chris Gaines. Yeah, Chris Gaines is a fictitious Australian rock star

with a ridiculous jet black emo wig and a ridiculous little soul patch on his chin. Chris Gaines is played by Garth Brooks, who looks ridiculous. Why did he, have to be Australian. Don't answer that. The Chris Gaines record endures now mostly as a recurring, wow, remember that, viral Twitter prompt.

This record is even harder to listen to in its entirety on the internet than all the other Garthbrook's records. It's not like I did anything super impressive to get to this, but it does feel like I'm like two clicks away from buying opium off the dark web. Obviously, I

would not actually do that, nor would I expense the opium if I did that. What do you even do with opium? Do you smoke it? I don't. The Chris Gaines record is disappointing in the sense that the infamous album cover, Garth Brooks with a wig and a salt patch looking ridiculous. The cover implies that this is going to be an emo album,

a death cap for cutie album, or even better a new metal album. And it is not. It's a soft rock album. Entertainment Weekly called it Wimp Biscuit. That's tough. You want something glib. The Chris Gaines record is just Garth Brooks inventing John Mayer. You're welcome.

The album where Garth Brooks plays a rock star doesn't rock anywhere near as hard as any of Garth's country albums. Chew on that for a while. I'm not ending with this. Forget it. Garth Brooks covers Bob Seeger's night mood. lives sometimes. My brother and I, we took my dad to see Bob Seeger once, and we had an awesome time. I drank exactly one beer that night, and I can still taste that beer.

You know, it was an IPA. That's maybe my all-time favorite beer. Drinking a beer with my dad and seeing Bob Seeger, that's the good shit. A few years after that, we were going to take dad to see Garth Brooks, but tickets were too expensive. I should have done it, though. I regret not doing it. We're doing it next time. Just me and my brother and my dad in exactly one beer, getting in the zone and joining a crowd of 800,000 other boisterous background dudes and duets and howling along to a couple dozen songs that were already super famous in 1992. We're a long way from my car seat in my dad's fiat in the dashboard light,

but realistically, this would be paradise. Our guest today, we are honored to be joined by Tyler Parker, Ringer staff writer, host of the new hit podcast, The Parker Tiles Show with Thad Roper, and the author of the fantastic novel A Little Blood and Dancing. Tyler, thank you so much for being here. Oh, I mean, this is like such a treat for me. I can't even tell you, I told you before we started recording how much I love this podcast. One of the great direct messages that I've gotten is, hey, we're doing Friends in Low Places on 60 songs.

When I read that, I was like, this is when the training kicks in. You know what I mean? We've been. We've been saving this one for a long time, and we knew it was going to be you. And it's time. It's finally time for Friends and Lowell Places. I'm stoked. I can't wait to hear your essay.

on it. Oh boy. That will be an instant listen. The girls will not get to listen to trolls, trolls three, getting the band back together. Oh, no. We have not had to watch the third trolls movie. We had to watch the first two, but we have avoided the third one. Does it improve at all? The franchise, the music is a, what's the arc of the trolls franchise overall? The arc of the trolls franchise for this one was unbeknownst to us, Branch, when he was a baby, was in a boy band. That's right. Yes. You know the names of the characters, which I really appreciate.

You listen. You're detail-oriented. If I get asked a question about it that I can't answer adequately, then there's hell to pay. Right. That's true. That's true. That might mean that I can't calm them down and we have to turn it on again and then I get in trouble, you know? So I can't have that.

But no, yeah, they're getting a boy band back together because one of the brothers has been stolen by these two new famous people. It's literally a space jam situation, honestly. They've figured out some, these two. They space jammed the trolls franchise. Wow. These two brother, this brother-sister duo, voiced by Amy Schumer and the not-Josh gad guy from Book of Mormon. Right. Andrew Rannels.

That's how he likes to be referred to. I couldn't remember. I was honestly about to call him Austin Rannels, and I felt like that's not quite right. but no, they're stealing the talent from one of the brothers and they got to go save them. So the first thing I'm going to tell my wife whenever she asks how this went is I'm going to say, I messed up.

I'm talking about trolls three for the first 10 minutes. I was going to say that this is, we've never gone off the rails faster in 119 episodes. And it's an honor to be here with you as we just, we never even got on the rails. It's great. This show's over. It's fine.

Tyler, What is the most Oklahomaan aspect of Garth Brooks? When you look at Garth Brooks, what is it about him that you go, yeah, that's, that's Oklahoma right there. I think the continued just like allegiance to jeans. Yeah, he really. In any situation, even in front of presidents, my man's wearing jeans. I know I'm singing, I'm singing here at the inauguration. after one of the most consequential elections ever,

I'm going to wear my jeans. And I think that's very Oklahoma of him. Sure. I don't know, he threw javelin at Oklahoma State. That's always been pretty Oklahoma of me, or of him to me. It's funny with Garth because, like, I have memories of being in Tulsa, like driving up to Tulsa with my family to watch my younger sister play soccer. And being at those soccer fields and like, you know, sort of wildfire, you find out, hey, Garth is on field seven.

Garth is watching his girls play on field seven. You have been physically in the same sports complex as Garth Brooks is what you're saying. Yeah. We've been sharing the same grass, you know, we've been standing far apart on the same grass. Same earth. Yeah, yeah. And but I remember it always being like, no one ever bothered him. everyone understood like Garth's here to watch his girls.

And there was so much sort of reverence and respect for him that everybody was like, just let Garth watch his, just let Garth watch his girls. But yeah, you would see him around every now and again. I was going to ask, is he like a beloved, like Godlike figure in Oklahoma? Is he somehow so huge that he doesn't necessarily feel like yours anymore?

Or is there still like, he's still a local hero at heart? definitely we Oklahomaans still claim him pretty heavy and and he was I think because of what a just gigantic star he became there weren't a lot of Oklahomans at least that you knew about that were you know playing in front of those numbers in Central Park or whatever or like having a there was something I remember as a kid there was something very exciting about like, oh, he's going to have a special on NBC. And so, and I've never gotten to go, you know, I've never got to go see him in concert.

I'm too young, whatever. But this is cool that I get to see this whole concert on NBC. You know what I mean? Like, I remember sitting with my family in the first house that we lived in. And it's honestly, which the weird thing is is it's some of, it's really probably my earliest memories. I have a memory of getting some Spider-Man underwear whenever I was like four. And I remember looking at them in the package and being like, man, yes. This is a big moment.

Yes. And they're the good ones. It's beautiful. Like they're actually. The good ones. Not the low. Yeah. They actually got Peter on there.

Like, I don't want just the web or just the colors or the logo. This is quality product. Okay. I want to see Pete out there th whipping, you know. Okay. That's number one. Number one is Spider-Man pajamas. That's my rosebud.

That's my rosebud. And my spidey undies. But no, I remember watching one of the NBC, like live on NBC specials that he did because I'm pretty sure he did multiple. I mean, and part of this is also probably me remembering the home video that probably exists somewhere or might have gotten lost in our transitions from videotape to a DVD. Right. You got a stack of VHS tape somewhere in your basement. Yeah. But there was one of me up on the like, like sort of like beside the television, standing there and like dressed fully as Garth as I could possibly be with like a,

you know, some like terrible little plastic little Tykes guitar kind of thing. And I, it wasn't then, but I do remember that during one of these times when I did decide, like, oh, like, obviously it's time for a show. Everyone seems to be pretty bored around here. Like, maybe I could perform something. You got to entertain these people, yes. I do remember at one point feeling like at the end of it, if I was going to be truthful to, like, the spirit of Garth and how he played live,

that I would break the guitar as he did. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As he did a lot. Whenever him and his lead guitar player with smash guitar, Yeah, together. That doesn't happen as often. No, it's really a rare, it's really a rare, rare thing to see. And whenever I, like, came across that again, like before I was writing that thing on Garth that went on the site, whatever, a couple years ago, whenever I came across that again, I, like, had transported me back to when I had

seen that at some point as a kid and being like, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen. It's pretty cool. And now, I mean, now you're, now you're sort of, mortified at it, but you're like, hey, let's just, why don't we take care of the guitars, you know? These are expensive. Did you do it? Did you smash the guitar? No, I was too much of a rule follower, so I, like, asked my parents, like, hey, for this one, for this performance, do you think it would be cool if I really, like, went for it and smashed

the guitar? Like, because, you know, I think it would be really good to actually be sort of go one-to-one on this. Be cathartic, right. Yes, and because it's not going to, the performance is going to be really good and authentic up until then, and then that's going to be like, that's the bad ending, right? You know what I mean? It's a letdown. It's like, oh, he didn't even smash the guitar.

That's what is this? It was a dream the whole time. Yeah, you know, you're like, you don't want that, right? And so it's like, and, you know, I really valued my uncles and aunts opinions, you know. Sure. But yeah, I remember being very, very frustrated and not understanding, like, I can't even play it. I don't understand. Why are you wanting me to save it?

I can't play it. I can't play the guitar. I sit up here and I fake strum it. I knew even then, you know, you know even then, like, you're not playing the song. You're acting like you're playing the song. Right. Yeah. You know, like you, and then you have that, you have that video forever.

But they, honestly, they screwed themselves on that. That's. They really did. That's a bad move on their part. well that's too bad i love the piece that you wrote for the ringer you know you start out talking about garth's album covers you know garth's baffling and wondrous fashion sense i think my favorite line is there's one shirt you describe as saying like someone just chucked a bowl full of nacho cheese at him and it's like that's very accurate that's what it looks like it looks like someone through nach cheese how would you describe other than jeans of course how would you describe the visual experience of garth brooks like

words. Psychedelic Western store. You know, like if you if you took your favorite Western store that had like a, you know, a big Justin logo

on the outside and you walk in and it just smells like wood and leather and denim. One of those great Western stores. And then if you sort of drop that into acid and then filtered that through a kaleidoscope

and then added like sort of, I think an underrated aspect of Garth and a lot of those album covers and the fact that he's basically been on the cover, I think of almost all of his albums, is that Garth thinks Garth thinks Garth is super hot. He does. He does have a healthy opinion of himself.

I appreciate the confidence. Like the confidence is, some of these beard choices and shirt combos like the confidence is through the roof. I mean, it really is like, there is absolutely no reason for, like, that in, the shirt he's wearing on the cover of in pieces is absolutely ridiculous. The checkerboard.

I like the deranged checkerboard situation. There's something, there's just something about him where like, there's like a youth pastor quality to him. him is what I call it in the piece, but like there is a, he's been so famous for so long and he really wanted to be famous and he really feels that he has a lot to impart, especially now, but even like even then, I mean, like going and watching his, like, he was one of Barbara Walter's most interesting people in one of those early 90s years.

Sure. And he is trying to describe at one point, she sort of asks him like, what's it like to be playing live and all that stuff. And he likens it to sex. He does at great length. At great length. And he tries to kind of be like a little bit like literary about it on some level. Like he tries to be.

He really tries. But there's something that's keeping him from being able to fully like look at what he's doing and be like, oh, you got to pull it back. There's no self-awareness. But if he was self-aware, it wouldn't, it wouldn't be him, right? No, right. You can't sell some of these songs if you have self-awareness. You can't turn some of these songs into monster hits if you have self-awareness, right?

Like, you can't, you have to just, because that's the thing with Garth. Like, Garth will, he's like a salesman. He will, he, he's, he's there to tell you it's, whatever, 3.30 in the morning. And like, he's there to set them. He's there to set the mood. Yeah. He sells the drama. Yes.

He's, he gets very, he always gets very, and it seems sincere, but it also seems like it could not be sincere in the exact same way. You know what I mean? But like it, it, it, um, when you listen to interviews with him, he really likes to, like, go nuts for the songwriter and not, like, sometimes individual songwriters, but also like the songwriter, like as a mythic, right. Yes. Yes.

Yes. A lot of references to the song. The song, the music. We have no future, if not for the song. Things like that where you're just like, well, what are you talking about? That's music. Yeah. Yeah.

But yeah, sometimes he can get into this, he can get into this sort of like, you can tell he loves being on the mic, right? Like he just loves being on the mic. He certainly does. The headset mic, yes. The spotlight. Yes. He wants it all. Watching, like, fan videos of his, of his, like, concerts and you're seeing, like, just them, you know, in the audience somewhere.

Right. It is so, you watch him even now and you see him, and he, in the way, like, a successful televangelist or, like, big box mega church pastor. would sort of control a room. And he does it in the same sort of way. And he will also, like, at the drop of a hat, talk about, like, God coming down or something. Like, there's... A lot of soliloquies. A lot of homilies.

Yes. Yeah. He's such an interesting combination of, like, totally thinks he's a cutie. Like, thinks he's just the cat's pajamas, man. Like he, you, when you see Garth anywhere, like, when he, it's almost like you see him letting other people talk. You know what I mean? Like he, like, he thinks he should be talking.

So gracious. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. I, in your piece, you say really simply, I think you're talking about him playing live and you just say, he gets after it. And I, this is a phrase that I loved in your book. Like, somebody starts dancing is like, they get after it. Like, I really loved that phrase.

And I wanted to ask, like, what does getting after it mean to you? And how does Garth embody getting after it? Top two question all time. And it's not two. Rob, this is incredible. I would say it is, it's not, it's actually not dancing like no one's watching. It's like dancing like everyone's watching and you're killing it. And you know you're going to continue killing it.

and there's no self-awareness at all entering the mix so you're trying moves that you haven't even tried in your bedroom that you've just seen like once or twice. It's definitely, I think when you're getting after it,

generally I would associate it with being inebriated or impaired in some way. Certainly. But yeah, I think it's dancing, like everyone's watching and they're lucky to be. And there you go. I'm going to show you some stuff now that I've never seen before.

You know what I mean? I'm going to blow my own mind and you get to watch. Yeah. The reason I use that with Garth is like he is so pumped up to sing. Every time he gets to sing, you feel him so. Because he doesn't, he's not going to like give you some killer vocal or hardly ever, right? You're not listening to Garth because you're like, man, the tonal qualities of this voice. You know what I mean?

And he is also like in an awshucks sort of way that doesn't always feel sincere. He's also quick to mention that usually. Like, hey, I'm not a good singer. You know, it's other stuff. There's a false modesty to that. Yes, yes, for sure. You mentioned some of the songs that he sings, like, you can't be self-aware to put this song over. Just friends in a little places fall into that category.

for you? I don't know if that song falls into the category just because I think it's like a well written song. And it is. And it is, I think that that song with that message, some drunk buffoon at his ex's wedding trying to give a toast with the champagne glass of the dude that she's marrying.

That's right. That's a very important detail. Thank you. That's a very important. detail. I think that that is, the song was sort of unassailable as long as someone's got some personality whatsoever. Sure. That said, I don't think anybody is, when it gets to the real shout-along chorus time near the end, I don't think anybody is selling it like Garth can sell it that he's just absolutely hammered.

And like, you know what I mean? Like, that's true. That's true. You're right. There is, there is like a, um, a thespian in Garth, which he tried to make happen, obviously, with Chris Gaines. He certainly did. He tried so hard.

God bless him. And, and, uh, he loves to try to sell you the story that you, uh, in the song. You know what I mean? Like, he really wants to. you can feel him really try in ways that can become very cringy at times trying to really sell like the character in the song you know like sell himself as the character in the song

sometimes when you when you hear Garth sing these like real like kind of cowboy bangers like rodeo and stuff like that every now and again some of that stuff can kind of read a little bit false because I don't see Garth as somebody who's out there like riding bulls. No, I don't think, yeah, I agree with you. It's a little cosplay, you know, but that's an inherent country music thing, but I agree with you.

And that's if I have a problem with that, I have a problem with the whole thing and I don't, so I can't, you know what I mean? But like, he will try very, very hard to get you to buy what is happening. And when he, like, the song itself does this, but like, he changes how he's singing from like the opening of this song and then when kind of the hook drops and the bit is first really, you know, he really sinks his teeth into the bit,

then, you know, he likes that like, ta-da, it wasn't this. I was being very sincere and you thought the song was like this, and it's not. It's actually different than that. And you get drunker over the course of the song. Oh, yeah. I mean, my-

His aura gets drunker, yes. No, a thousand, Well, you feel him being like, this song is awesome. I can't believe, like, that's, like, I think, I honestly think that part of that is like, he's singing that chorus and he's like, he knows it's going to be just a monster. And he's like, I can't believe I'm getting to sing that this song is mine. Like, I honestly feel that in him because he wasn't, like, you know, he, he had the self-title when that came out in 89, but this, this came out in 90, right?

Like this was the second album. This was the one. And so it, yeah, this one just, yeah, this was crazy. I mean, but yeah, the Friends in Loat Places, I always think it's like a funnier song than I realized whenever I was first listening to it as a child. Mm-hmm. That when he gets to the second verse, even drunker, right? Like he's been drinking throughout this time. That's correct.

Yes. Like halfway through the second. first. That's when he goes, that's when he goes, everything's all right. That's a classic, yes. Everything's all right. I'll just say goodnight and I'll show, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll show myself out. You know what? Like, it's cool, man. Yeah. Yes. I can't do it. Like, Arth can do it. Sorry. No, no, no, no, nor can I. But it's like that, that he goes, that he goes to there. And when he then says, I didn't mean to cause a big scene.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. To say that while you hijacked the wedding toast of the man of your ex. I didn't mean to do, I didn't mean to, I wasn't even trying to do anything. I just wanted to say something very quick. Like there's something very, um, uh, just like, it's, uh, it's ham-fisted to the point of like being like slapstick, you know what I mean? Like it's like, it's like, it's so ridiculous to think about what's actually happening. And I think that that's part of like,

Garth gets so obsessed with what's actually happening in the song, I think that that's part of it too. He's like really trying to embody this guy who's like, you know what? It's fine. I'm fine. So you can do it. That's beautiful. Do you think he's impatted to you as a fiction writer? You know, like country music in general.

But like the thunder rolls unanswered prayers, you know, friends a little places. Like there's so much, as you say, detail, characterization and drama in them. Like, should he write a novel? You know, did he help you write a novel? Garth should for sure write a novel because of like, I don't think enough people remembered just how wildly detailed the backstory for

Chris Gaines. I did not know anything that you wrote in that piece. That was like, as you say, like his mother is. got a maiden name. Like it's, it's like a full Wikipedia page backstory.

He's making up California universities and saying that his swimming thing. Yeah. Saying that his mom was a Commonwealth Games medalist in Australia. And he's like, I forgot that he was Australian.

I don't understand why he's Australian, but he is for sure Australian canonically. It is like, he would love to get upset. in his own little world in that way. You know what I mean? I mean, I'm sure that Garth,

had you not asked me, I would have never thought about it. But I'm sure the, like, sometimes it's fun to get a little camp and a little, and like kind of lean into some,

some over-the-top feeling as long as it's, you know, handled well, right? And like, there is, and Garth is, or early Garth, I think, was picking songs that were really good at the details. And they were good at, um, like setting a mood very, or like setting a scene very, very quickly.

3.30 in the morning. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like it, it, um, it, I mean, the beginning of friends in little places, right? Like, even that, like, those. first three lines basically when you realize like I showed up in boots and rooing your black tie affair like he you know like all that you sort of know exactly where he stands and everybody likes to put themselves as the underdog in any sort of you know in their in your life you're the underdog right like in your like when you like tell yourself your story I feel like a lot of people are like man I'm up against it you know what I mean nobody

believed in me. Yes. Yes. And so like I like there there is um and I think a lot of people like the idea of being the person who ruined the fancy party like with all these all these lame people who like didn't like me coming up here blah. You know what I mean? Like I think that that's something that um that people can can grab one to but sure. I just to wrap up you know you say in the piece and of course like it's it's not impossible to listen to garth now but he makes it harder than it has to be right you know like you can buy his new album but you have to buy it as part of a box set that is only sold at bass pro shops like do you think this shit is drove to i drove to rancho kooka okay and to the bass pro shop there because i thought i was going to write a piece i thought i was

going to write a piece on it i went out there and bought the box set and it was like between some American flag themed cornhole games. Oh, God. Yes. And the, and the like tracker boat, uh, mini dealership that is inside a lot of bass pros.

Okay. All right. So lots of retail opportunities. Lots of retail opportunities. But it was like it was also front and center. And it was a bit and it was, I mean, he did,

Garth knows, Garth knows his audience very well. He certainly does. And he knows that if he sells something at BassPro, and if he does a lot in concert with BassPro and talks about, you know, rehabilitating the land and these sorts of things, like he talks about, you know, conservation, things like that. if he's and if he if he if he if he's tying himself to uh to that whole world still

then like if you're a garth fan you could probably get to a bass pro you know what i mean like it's like i think so i think you might live in one yeah right right and so it um yeah i i when i heard that i was like this is the most garth thing i've ever he's making it it's the most like inside baseball purchase like any superstar as like required of anyone like I agree but I mean he can he can do that stuff now because of just how Dominity was in the 90s I mean I'm sure you went through some of the numbers in your essay like but just did yeah nobody no nobody was selling like him and so it's just it's up the Beatles yeah and so and garth maybe Garth and Beatles It, like, I think, like, first, for, I would be interested, sometimes I feel like, and I love Shini, obviously, she's wondrous.

But I think sometimes people, like, maybe put her up, like, just in terms of, like, her popularity and stuff, at the peak of it, maybe above Garth in some ways, because she also sold a lot of albums and stuff. But it's just like, when you start, when you start looking at the numbers, it's really crazy what Garth. did. The longevity of it, yeah, from 89 to 98 at least. Yeah. I mean, two pinia collates comes out and is in 97 on sevens or whatever, and that's like a monster. You know what I mean? Like it, he did.

It is in my book. He did change up his shirt for that. He just decided to go with a nice white tea, which I thought was. That's a good. He does look good on that album cover. He looks like he extra knows that he looks good on the seven's album cover. I agree. No, he's definitely like, I think he's proud.

I think it says something suggestive to him. It's like he doesn't have his shirt off, but hey, baby, ladies, I'm in my undershirt, you know? I'm just here in my white tea. But yeah, he's, he's a very funny, like, it's very funny to think about some of his creative decisions post all these hits because it makes sense that he would it makes sense that he wouldn't like what do you mean don't only sell my stuff at walmart like yes i've sold more than everybody but the beetles obviously i'm right like if if if you were right you would have sold more than anything anybody but the beetles and so excellent point i think that there's part of

part of him that thinks that way but yeah man what Spotify's got live in Germany from like 95 and I think that's it I think that's it yeah you know one of the things that I had forgotten about from him that because it's newer and more

recent was him and Tricia Yearwood did a duet of shallow from uh from oh yes yeah from a star is born a star is born yes and Garth sounds pretty good on it. Of course he does.

He kind of like not to go full like Connor O'Malley I think you should leave but it was definitely in his Q zone. You know what I mean? Like they got Jeff Chris down from Indiana. But like it he sounds as good as he sounded to me in that song. The song itself doesn't

it's not as fun as the original and it's not like the The the shallow part, like when they start, like, just like, doing that, you realize just how silly it is whenever you hear, like, a cover of that song. Or, like, when Gaga's going like, ha, ha, ha. That would be the part, yeah. That's a very garth moment. Yes. And so he gives it to Trisha in this.

And she does her best, and she gets there sometimes. But she's obviously not Gaga. Love you, Trisha. You just, you know, who among us is, Gaga? Who among us, exactly. But it was, it was interesting to think about, like, him or her. I like to think it was her idea. And, like, she saw the song.

They saw the movie together. But then she, like, kind of went away and thought about the song for a little bit and was like, what if we, maybe we. I think you're right. I think you're right. This sounds like a Trisha thing. And I think that Garth was almost even kind of trying to sound like Bradley Cooper in the recording a little bit. Like there's not an imitation, but there is like he sings lower. It's like he sounds better lower now than he used to.

Sometimes he used to sound like he was like a kid trying to talk with a low voice. Yeah. Yeah. Like sometimes I'm like, and the thunder rolls. You would sort of hear him kind of be like, you're not really like, you're not, you're not. Your thunder's not rolling, Garth. Yeah, that's, it's part of his charm, but I agree. Yes.

Yeah, it takes, it takes an older man to really sell the thunder rolling. Yeah, but now he's, yeah, now he's got some, he's got some sand in his, in his craw. Maybe he can, you know, maybe he can, maybe he can get there. I don't know. This has been wonderful, dude. Thank you so much. Dude, I'm, I'm, I'm so, fucking honored to be here and, and, yeah, to get to do it. I'm so happy to get to talk Garth with you,

but just to be on one of my favorite pause, man. This is like, this is a treat. Well, thank you so much, man. Thanks very much to our guest this week, Tyler Parker. Thanks, as always to our producers, Jonathan Kerma and Justin Sales. Thanks very much to Chloe Clark for production help. And thanks very much to you for listening. And now, if you can figure out how to do it,

I'd like you to go listen to friends in little places. by Garth Brooks. We'll see you next week.