Is Garth Brooks about to break out of his retirement?

Is Garth Brooks about to break out of his retirement?

by: RANDY LEWIS Los Angeles Times
8/17/2007 5:11 AM

For a country superstar who very publicly retired seven years ago, Garth Brooks has some funny ideas about what defines a hobby. He’s holding a news conference Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., and word around Music City is that he’s going to announce that he’ll be releasing new music this fall, probably a new single in September to be followed in October by a multidisc career retrospective box set.

Brooks hardly has been con- fining himself to whittling on the porch of his Owasso homestead since he decided in 2000 to stop recording and touring. He has made a handful of public appearances and reissued his album catalog through a pioneering exclusive arrangement with Wal-Mart.

His plan this time, according to record industry sources, is to put the retrospective out on his Pearl Records label through Wal-Mart, as he did with two previous box sets, but also to allow other retail outlets to carry the new set.

Additionally, he’s said to be hooking up with Nashvillebased Big Machine Records, the young label that has turned teenage singer-songwriter Taylor Swift into a star, to promote any singles he decides to release.

Wal-Mart, as it turns out, can move truckloads of CDs, as it did when he put out “The Limited Series” and “The Entertainer” box sets in 2005 and 2006, respectively, but the retail giant doesn’t hold much sway with country radio programmers.

Big Machine has been making significant inroads in Nashville since it was started two years ago by veteran record executive and promotion man Scott Borchetta, and it can’t hurt Brooks’ view of Big Machine that its talent roster also includes one Trisha Yearwood, Brooks’ wife.

Whether he also will be doing any concerts as part of this new burst of musical activity is the question concert industry observers are awaiting expectantly, as Brooks exited as one of music’s most popular live acts.

He’s said he won’t do a full- fledged tour until his youngest daughter graduates from high school in 2015, but he did perform for a Hurricane Katrina benefit, showed up at the Grand Ole Opry 80th anniversary celebration in 2005, and most recently played in Washington, D.C., for Live Earth.