Brooks leads hall inductees
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Garth Brooks' induction to the Country Music Hall of Fame caps one of the most astounding and important music careers in American history. At 50, though, Brooks isn't done yet.
He's one of the hall's youngest living inductees and might be a few short years from launching the second phase of a career that forced country music into the national consciousness and sold more albums than Michael Jackson.
He joins singer Connie Smith and keyboard player Hargus “Pig” Robbins as this year's inductees.
Brooks has been in semi-retirement, raising his children in his home state of Oklahoma with his wife, Trisha Yearwood. He started a string of shows in Las Vegas a few years ago, and talked openly Tuesday about what will happen after his nest empties.
“A lot of times you go into the hall of fame at the end of your career,” Brooks said. “I've got to make sure that I understand this honor. But now my job is to take this honor and take it somewhere hopefully it hasn't been taken before, and that's to strap it on a rocket like a tour, especially a tour that's been vacant since 1998. Our youngest is a sophomore in high school, so we'll see after that. The kids are always our first priority. If they seem to be off and running well on their own, it sure would be fun to fire it up.”
All three inductees noted the contribution of others to their success. Brooks thought his induction might be “premature,” given the long list of others he believes should already be enshrined.
“You're excited,” Brooks said. “You feel very honored. But at the same time there's this kind of guilt or, I don't know what it is, a kind of embarrassment, so you feel uneasy because I wouldn't be standing here today talking to you if it wasn't for Randy Travis. I wouldn't be standing here talking to you today if it wasn't for Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Steve Wariner, these guys. ... I think eventually they will get in, but it probably should've been before Garth Brooks came in. That's the whole feeling for the day.”
