During an interview at Billboard Country Live in Nashville, Garth Brooks expressed his strong desire to bring back his rock alter ego, Chris Gaines, over two decades after he released an album under the persona in 1999.
Initially, Brooks took on the persona for a feature film titled “The Lamb,” where he portrayed the role of a rock star. The movie was intended to be accompanied by an album titled “Garth Brooks in… The Life of Chris Gaines.” Unfortunately, the film faced setbacks and was never release.
“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,” the country superstar said at the event, according to Billboard.
The album was released one year prior to the intended film release date, aiming to generate curiosity and showcase Brooks in a fresh perspective as a genre-defying artist. Despite the film never releasing, the album achieved remarkable success.
During the interview, Brooks clarified that the project was a compilation of songs from five unreleased albums by Chris Gaines. Brooks expressed his eagerness to officially release these unheard projects.
“The five albums have to come out,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m 114 years old. But now everything takes three hours more than it took time to do before.”
“And selfishly, I love the Chris Gaines record, so I want to do it for me. It challenged me as a vocalist,” added Brooks. “So I don’t know when we’re going to get to it, but it’s on the list.”
