Country legend Garth Brooks is officially making a come-back, after retiring in 2001.
Fans can expect a single in the next few months, and a new double album around Thanksgiving. Brooks announced the album and confirmed a three-year world tour today in a press conference. He retired 13 years ago to spend time with his family, but is returning as his youngest daughter heads to college this fall.
“Scared? Yes. Old? Yes,” he said according to USA Today. “My bigger hope is that I don’t regret this day.”
He said one of the new songs might surpass “The Dance” as his all-time favorite, and that much of the record will be in the familiar Western style of his hits “Rodeo” and “Much to Young (To Feel this Damn Old).”
“You’re damn straight we’ll do cowboys songs on this album,” he said.
His return could signal the end of the bro-country era: “You’ve heard those new terms, bro country and hick-hop? I don’t think my stuff is either one of those. For me, it’s Garth music … It’s ever-evolving and it stands the test of time.” (RELATED: How Bro-Country Is Dumbing Down Country Music)
For the first time, his music will be available digitally, exclusively on his website.
Brooks is the best-selling artist in the U.S. since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking music sales in 1991. He’s sold 69.6 million albums, topping The Beatles and Metallica. He won entertainer of the year at the Country Music Award’s four times, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2012.
Here is his greatest song to-date, without question.*
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*Editors’ Note: The Dance, The Thunder Rolls, Rodeo, Friends in Low Place, American Honky-Tonk Bar Association, Papa Loves Mama, Shameless, Longneck Bottle, Much Too Young, Ain’t Goin’ Down, The Beaches Of Cheyenne, That Summer, Against the Grain, What She’s Doing Now, Burning Bridges, In Lonesome Dove, We Bury the Hatchet, Beer Run, Big Money, Pushing Up Daisies, Rodeo or Mexico, and even Two Pina Coladas are all better songs than The River.