ontheedgeofeverything

Garth Brooks is undoubtedly one of the most highly recognized country singers in the history of the genre. I was privileged enough to be exposed to Brooks’ music from a young age and have been raised with it as a result thanks to my parents. I believe Brooks’ music is timeless and there fails to be any other country musician that can compete with my love for Brooks.

Brooks’ first name is not actually Garth – it is Troyal, and his middle name is Garth. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on February 7th, 1962, and was the youngest of two siblings. Despite his tremendous success in regards to his music today, Brooks was not heavily involved with music as a child, and instead focused on athletics throughout his high school career. He played baseball, basketball and participated in track and field, earning a scholarship for track to Oklahoma State University. He graduated from OSU with an advertising degree though ultimately decided to pursue a music career in 1985.

George Strait’s debut single “Unwound” is what prompted Brooks to be a country singer, and his self-titled first album achieved momentous success. To this day, Brooks states that his favourite song from his first album is “The Dance”.

Brooks has been nominated for forty-nine Academy of Country Music Awards and has won twenty-three. The following chart comes from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Garth_Brooks) and it displays all of his nominations and victories:

Year	Nominee/work	Award	Result
1989	Garth Brooks	Top New Male Vocalist	Won
	“If Tomorrow Never Comes“	Song of the Year – Artist
		Song of the Year – Composer
		Single of the Year
1990	Garth Brooks	Entertainer of the Year
		Male Vocalist of the Year
	“The Dance“	Song of the Year
		Video of the Year
	No Fences	Album of the Year
	“Friends in Low Places“	Single of the Year
		Song of the Year	Nominated
1991	Garth Brooks	Entertainer of the Year	Won
		Male Vocalist of the Year
	Ropin’ the Wind	Album of the Year	Nominated
	No Fences
	“Shameless“	Single of the Year
	“The Thunder Rolls“	Video of the Year
1992	Garth Brooks	Entertainer of the Year	Won
		Top Male Vocalist	Nominated
	“Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy” (with Chris LeDoux)	Top Vocal Duet
	The Chase	Album of the Year
1993	Garth Brooks	Entertainer of the Year	Won
	“We Shall Be Free“	Video of the Year
	Garth Brooks	Top Male Vocalist	Nominated
	“Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up)“	Single of the Year
1994	Garth Brooks	Jim Reeves Memorial Award	Won
	“The Red Strokes“	Video of the Year
	Garth Brooks	Entertainer of the Year	Nominated
		Top Male Vocalist
	In Pieces	Album of the Year
1995	Garth Brooks	Entertainer of the Year
1996
	“The Change“	Video of the Year
1997	Garth Brooks	Gene Weed Special Achievement Award	Won
		Entertainer of the Year
	Sevens	Album of the Year	Nominated
1998	Garth Brooks	Entertainer of the Year	Won
	Double Live	Album of the Year	Nominated
	Burnin’ the Roadhouse Down (with Steve Wariner)	Vocal Event of the Year
1999	Garth Brooks	Artist of the Decade	Won
2001		Entertainer of the Year	Nominated
	“Beer Run” (with George Jones)	Vocal Event of the Year
2005	Garth Brooks	40th Anniversary Milestone Award	Won
2007		Crystal Milestone Award
2010		Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award
2014		Milestone Award
2016		Entertainer of the Year	Nominated

My favourite Garth Brooks songs, in no particular order, are “The River”, “Callin’ Baton Rouge”, “The Cowboy Song”, “Ain’t Going Down (‘Till the Sun Comes Up)”, “That Summer”, “Standin’ Outside the Fire” and “The Red Strokes”. If you have yet to experience Brooks’ music, please check it out. He is a phenomenal musician and performer, and his music truly set a precedent for classic country music.