When Garth Brooks walked into his pre-show press conference at the Bryce Jordan Center, he didn’t have some absurd sense of glamour or superstardom.
Wearing a baseball cap instead of his cowboy hat, he even seemed mildly embarrassed when people started to clap. At one point, he jokingly asked a reporter whether her camera angle could hide a double chin.
“I love, love, love this place,” Brooks says of State College and Penn State, explaining that his first memories of State College were from taking his daughter on a tour of Penn State. Although the university was just a little too far away from home for his daughter, Brooks still says Happy Valley has a special place in his heart.
“My daughter fell in love with this place, and I fell in love with this place, and the fans are self-explanatory,” he says with an excited smile.
After all, State College is famously located in a low-lying valley, and Brooks does have friends in low places.
But when Brooks was planning his current world tour, he knew his dates and stops would be more limited than his last tour. So when it came time to book venues, it all boiled down to one question: Where did he have the most fun playing?
Lo and behold, Brooks is back at the BJC for the first time in 18 years, where he’s performing his unique blend of county and rock over six shows and two weeks. And with Brooks’ upbeat energy and passionate fan base, they’re sure to be shows to remember.
Brooks, one of the most wildly successful musicians of all time, says he tries not to “get too involved with the numbers.” Ticket sales are great, yes. Awards and record sales are great too. But that’s not what Brooks is singing for.
In the mid-90s, Brooks was attending a funeral for a loved one and “barely made it through the service.” As he walked along the lines of gravestones in a stupor, he saw something that caught him off guard: the complete lyrics to his hit song “The Dance,” etched into a gravestone.
“Platinum records are cool, and Grammies are cool, but not as cool as that,” Brooks says.
A lot of things have changed for Brooks since his last stop in Happy Valley. He retired for a while to focus on raising his family. Country and pop music have become more entwined, which some credit to Brook’s crossover success.
But for Brooks, and for his fans, country music is simply “timeless.” It’s sincere, it’s down to earth, it’s unassuming – just like the man himself. No matter how country has changed, Brooks still finds something to love in it.
“Everything changes. It just does,” Brooks says. “What you have to do as an artist is to handle that change and try to find your place in it.”
While Brooks has clearly found his place in that change, he points to perhaps an unexpected teacher: “Study Tony Bennett,” he says.
Tony Bennett knows his style, his fans, and his place in the music industry – and people love him for it, Brooks says. Even when he’s collaborating with Lady Gaga (another artist Brooks says he greatly admires), Tony Bennett is still Tony Bennett.
And at the end of the day, Garth Brooks is still just Garth Brooks – the polite, good-humored country singer who just happened to hit it big.
“People like to talk about their bucket lists, but there’s not a single thing on mine,” Brooks says. “I’m married to the love of my life, my kids are healthy and out on their own paths, and I’m lucky enough to keep playing music.”
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