Garth Brooks Is Bringing Back His Alter Ego, Chris Gaines
His ambitious rock side-project is being re-released!
Garth Brooks is resurrecting his rock ‘n’ roll secret identity, the Country Hall of Fame member has said, bringing the infamous Chris Gaines back to life.
Speaking on a recent episode of his weekly live-streamed show, Inside Studio G, Brooks said he plans to re-release the 1999 side-project, The Life of Chris Gaines. The album famously found him imagining himself as an Australian rock artist, and now it will be available in all formats for the first time — including digitally and on vinyl. Meanwhile, Brooks says it will also include previously unreleased songs.
“You’re going to have it in every format you can possibly imagine. It’s coming,” he said. “You’re going to have Chris Gaines stuff nobody’s ever heard before either. I love that project, so I’m excited.”
Brooks created Chris Gaines as an ambitious alter ego, and even had plans to film a whole movie about Gaines’ fictional backstory. One album was recorded and released, and Brooks performed as Gaines on an episode of Saturday Night Live. But the reaction from fans and critics mostly ranged from confusion to anger, and the project was eventually abandoned.
In the meantime, Garth Brooks is also working on new country music, with an album titled The Anthology Part II expected to arrive later this year. He said he’s been writing new songs with Ashley McBryde and Mitch Rossell (who wrote Brooks’ recent “Ask Me How I Know”).
