Patriotic Assembly Song of the Week

"Oh Arkansas"

Musician of the Week

Garth Brooks

Monday
Listening Example:  "Friends in Low Places"

Garth Brooks is an international superstar who worked hard, and persevered, to become one of the top selling musicians of all time.

Troyal Garth Brooks was born on February 7, 1962, in Tulsa Oklahoma.  Garth's mother, Colleen McElroy Carroll, was a 1950's-era country singer.  The family hosted weekly talent nights at their home in Yukon, Oklahoma.  All of the children (6 in total) were required to participate, either by singing or doing skits.  This is where Garth learned to play both the guitar and banjo.
As a child, Brooks often sang in casual family settings, but his primary focus was athletics.  In high school, he played football and baseball and ran track and field.  
He received a scholarship to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he competed in the javelin event.  
Garth graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1984, with a degree in Advertising.  

​Today's Listening Example is Garth Brooks' biggest hit of his lifetime, "Friends in Low Places."  The idea for the song developed when one of the songwriters had forgotten his wallet at lunch one day.  He told the waiter, "Don't worry, I've got friends in low places."  He was referring to knowing the cook at the restaurant.  The lyrics were scribbled on a paper napkin and the rest is history.

Tuesday
Listening Example:  "The Dance"

According to the Recording Industry of America Association, or RIAA, Garth Brooks is the best-selling solo albums artist in the United States with 148 million domestic units sold, ahead of Elvis Presley, and is second only to the Beatles in total album sales overall. He is also one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records.
Garth was the baby of five siblings.  Through his elder siblings, Brooks was exposed to a wide range of music. Although he listened to some country music, especially that of George Jones, Brooks was most fond of rock music, citing James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg, and Townes Van Zandt as major influences. In 1981, after hearing "Unwound", the debut single of George Strait, Brooks decided that he was more interested in playing country music.
Every musician has a "signature song" they sing.  That song is what everyone recognizes them for.  For example, when you think of "The Nutcracker" you think of Tchaikovsky.  When you think of Handel, you think of "The Messiah" or "The Hallelujah Chorus."  For Garth Brooks, "The Dance" is his signature song.  It was released on the same album as "Friends in Low Places" and, in interviews, Garth has attributed those two songs for his success.  Today's Listening Example is "The Dance."

Wednesday
Listening Example:  "We Shall Be Free"

Fan Fact:  In January 2012, Garth Brooks was named the best-selling artist of the Soundscan era, which spans 20 years. The Beatles took spot No. 2.
The third album released by Garth Brooks in 1991, Ropin' the Wind, was the first album by a country artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts.  That's right, the POP charts.  Not the country charts.  Garth is known as a cross over artist, or one makes music in more than one type of music.  He paved the way for artists like Taylor Swift and Kid Rock.
​The album's musical content was a mixture of pop country and honky tonk.  It would become Brooks' second-best selling album, after No Fences. The success of Ropin' the Wind further propelled the sales of Brooks' first two albums, enabling Brooks to become the first country artist with three albums listed in the Billboard 200's top 20 in one week.
​In 1992, many people in Los Angeles, California became outraged by, what they considered to be injustice and police brutality.  They began to riot.  Garth Brooks was in Los Angeles at the time of these riots.  The unrest, and violence, inspired him to write the song “We Shall Be Free”.  The song became the first single off his fourth album The Chase. The album only reached No. 12 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, Brooks' first song in three years to fail to make the top 10. Nonetheless, "We Shall Be Free" peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Christian Songs charts.  
Later that year, Garth was invited to be a host on “The Muppet Show”.  He participated in skits with Miss Piggy, the chickens, and even Gonzo!  The show really showed Garth’s character, and ability to be silly.  He also sang his song, “We Shall Be Free” on the show.  That is today’s listening example. 
Garth singing "We Shall Be Free" starts at 4:50.

Thursday
Listening Example:  "Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)"

​As we learned before, Garth Brooks got a college degree in Advertising.  Advertising is how you promote, or get people to buy, your product or service.  Even though he never actually worked in a business office using his advertising degree, he still used his knowledge of business and advertising in his career as a musician.
​Even musicians have to advertise, or promote, themselves to the public.  Garth Brooks has always had his hand in the business side of his musical career.  He knew how to promote himself, and his music.  He knew how to make money.  And he made a lot of money.  He once said in an interview that he had more money than even his great, great great grandchildren could ever spend.
​If you go to YouTube, or iTunes, and look for videos or music by Garth Brooks, you’ll have a hard time finding it.  Garth won’t allow any of his music to be sold on iTunes.  In fact, he started his own digital music platform called Ghost Tunes.  Sadly, it didn’t last long and Amazon Music has since taken over the Ghost Tunes label. He won’t allow his original music to be played on YouTube because he believes that artists should get paid for their music, and they don’t get paid through YouTube.  
Today’s Listening Example is a song that Garth wrote just for fun.  Here’s what he said about writing this song:  "Kent Blazy, Kim Williams, and I sat out on the back porch of Kent and Sharon Blazy's house and decided we wanted to write something that was a lot of fun, for no other reason than just that, fun. "Ain't Goin' Down (Til the Sun Comes Up)" is what we came up with. Kent and Sharon had just moved into their new home and this was the first song we had ever written at their house. They still reside there, and hopefully there are a lot more songs on that back porch."

Friday
Listening Example:  "Where Your Road Leads"

​One of the top-selling country music artists of all time, Garth Brooks has received several special honors in recent years. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011. The following year, Brooks also became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. 
​In 2005, Garth married country singer Trisha Yearwood.  They had met years earlier, before either had become famous.  Garth later asked Trisha to be his opening act on his first tour.  She did and they toured together for a year.  They went their separate ways, but later, they met up again and fell in love.  
​Trisha currently has her own TV show on the Food network called “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen.”  Garth makes appearances every now and then.  Trisha’s cooking skills are just as good as her musical talents and she and Garth still sing and tour together.  In fact, they made a Christmas album together called “Christmas Together”.  
Today’s Listening Example is a song co-written by Trisha Yearwood, at the peak of her musical career, in 1998.  This performance was recorded before they were “dating,” but they still sound beautiful together.  Before this performance, Trisha and Garth had worked together on another hit song titled, “In Another’s Eyes.”  They sing very well together and people seem to love to hear them.  

References

​https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Brooks
https://www.biography.com/people/garth-brooks-9542125
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-615/6157421/garth-brooks-top-25-billboard-hits
http://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a40540/garth-brooks-and-trisha-yearwood/