Garth Brooks may be a global superstar, yet that hasn’t prevented him from experiencing moments of self-doubt.
On Friday, the country singer sat down for an interview with Gayle King for “CBS This Morning”, about being one of this year’s recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Brooks recalled announcing his retirement in 2000, at the peak of his popularity, and then mounting a comeback 14 years later.
Country music icon @GarthBrooks can now add @KenCen Honoree to his long list of achievements. ✨
Brooks opens up to @GayleKing about his nearly 50-year career, his break from music and life with wife and fellow country artist @TrishaYearwood. #KCHonors pic.twitter.com/Z6DHMeHmTA
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 4, 2021
“The country music audience has given you everything. Now you just simply ask them, ‘I’m gonna go home and raise my babies.’ The big surprise was never, ever thinking, you’re gonna get to be let back in,” Garth said of his decision to step back from the spotlight and raise his children.
“Because when you don’t know why they show up, you don’t know if they’ll show up again,” he said, admitting he was “scared to death” about returning to the stage.
However, he added, his fears were assuaged when his fans turned out to see him in droves when he mounted his three-year world tour in 2014, one of the most successful tours in music history.
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“Country is the best place to be. Because, one, you have the most loyal audience there could possibly be, and they will wait for you,” Brooks marvelled.
