Garth Brooks Talks Major Label Radio Dominance, ‘Shrinking the World’ With His Radio Network & Possible New Chris Gaines Music

Billboard Country Live kicked off today (June 7) in Nashville with some major superstar energy, via a conversation between Garth Brooks and Billboard’s executive editor, West Coast and Nashville, Melinda Newman.

The pair engaged in a sprawling 50-minute talk touching on the past, present of future of Brooks’ unparalleled career, including his Las Vegas residency, new and old music, the radio network he’s launching this summer via TuneIn and why he’s grateful social media didn’t exist when he was a younger artist.

Regarding the radio network, a suite of stations dedicated to country and more, Brooks spoke about how curating country music that will be streamed in the 120 countries will offer him “a chance to shrink the world,” and show audiences the roots and sounds of the genre. He noted that while European labels used to request he take the steel guitars and fiddles off his work in order to get European radio play, via TuneIn he’ll be presenting real country music that “will lean a little bit more traditional.”

“I think radio is a reflection of the labels’ agenda … the labels simply own radio, they just do,” he continued. “They can say they don’t, or radio can say they don’t, but the truth is that nobody is going to get played on there that doesn’t have a major-label deal … So what this does is, just because the label might think that George Strait’s career is past the label part, I want to hear the new stuff from George Strait. Just because … all the sudden The Chicks were cancelled, don’t make the mistake of thinking their music wasn’t any good. Their music was fantastic. My thing is, I want to hear the new stuff from Luke Combs, followed by the new song from The Chicks, followed by Lainey Wilson.”

Brooks also spoke about his “wanting to hear country radio again where half of it is female voices.” Newman noted that CMT has a 50/50 play rule regarding playing male and female artists, asking if Brooks’ TuneIn station would incorporate a similar policy.

“The one thing that’s bad for me,” Brooks said, “is if you don’t play somebody because of the color of their skin or their gender. It’s as equally wrong if you do play somebody because of the color of their skin and their gender. My thing is, let the music decide. Sometimes there’s going to be less women because the women aren’t putting out new stuff yet, and sometimes there’s going to be more women because the women are putting out new stuff. That’s what I want to see.”

Newman later asked Brooks what his life would have been if social media had existed during the earlier phases of his career. “I was on the front page of the USA Today for being a bad husband and man,” Brooks said. “I’d have never survived that if there had been social media, ever … I sucked at being a husband, I was horrible at it. I was horrible at being a dad. I had to get my s–t together.

“And I’m not saying I do, but I will tell you this — the person you’re with make does a huge difference in your life,” he said, referencing his wife Trisha Yearwood.

The conversation also turned to the Garth Brooks/Plus ONE residency that launched last month at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Vegas. On the intimacy of this format, Brooks noted that “in the stadium show you can hide. With the one-man show, it’s just you, them, nothing between us but the night. It’s just so good, it’s so fun.” These shows require audience members to lock their phones away, as Brooks is using them to play new music, including “The Pleasure and the Pain,” which Brooks called “a dark, dark song,” saying he’s not yet sure if it will be released.

He did hint that there may also be new music coming from Chris Gaines, Brooks’ alter-ego, who in 1999 released a “Greatest Hits” alternative rock album framed as though it was amalgamated from Gaines’ five previous LPs. “The Gaines project was a lot of time put in — because it’s not natural, you’re acting on a record — but I want to do it simply for people who love the Gaines project,” Brooks said of re-adopting the alter-ego. “And selfishly, I love the Chris Gaines record, so I want to do it for me. It challenged me as a vocalist. So I don’t know when we’re going to get to it, but it’s on the list.”

Furthermore, Brooks said he’s working on a duets album with Yearwood, along with an additional duets album with other artists (who he declined to name) that’s coming this fall and will feature both old and new songs. Brooks is also cooking in other realms of his business, with his bar and entertainment space set to open soon in Nashville’s famous South Broadway District. (He drew a laugh from the audience when noting that while construction on the project is behind schedule, “I’m proud of the bills — the bills are showing up in force.”)

“I know this sounds corny,” he continued, “I want it to be the Chick-fil-A of honky-tonks … I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another … Our thing is this, if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an a–hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”

Teasing the Music of Yellowstone panel to follow later in the day at Country Live, Brooks noted that Kevin Costner — “a sweet man” — asked if Brooks would play the catcher in his 1999 film For The Love Of The Game. Brooks declined, nothing that he’s never gotten into acting. “I like singing, where you open up and you’re just honest,” he explained. “Bradley Cooper has been very sweet to me, Chris Pratt has been very sweet to me. I love what they do, but I couldn’t do that.”

Throughout the talk Brooks showed tremendous gratitude for his fans, talking about his father who worked two jobs he didn’t like to take care of his family, and how thankful he is he didn’t have to work that way.

“Thank you for my life,” he said, explaining that with music, “you get to be part of people’s lives, and it’s sweet.”