Garth Brooks Happy to Be the ‘Guy Next Door’ in Country Music

Garth Brooks is arguably one of the most famous faces in music — of any genre, but especially country. When Brooks’ self-titled debut album was released in 1989, the record, which included mega-hits like “If Tomorrow Never Comes” and “The Dance,” catapulted the relatively unknown Oklahoma native into a superstar, a title he’s held onto ever since.

With so many years unable to even walk out his front door without being recognized, surely there are moments Brooks gets tired of being so well known, right?

Not exactly.

“This is country music,” Brooks tells PopCulture.com. “There’s nobody in country music that makes you scared to walk out that door. And there’s nobody in country music that doesn’t want you to be the guy next door. So it’s great to be at Tractor Supply Co. and someone go up to you and go, ‘Hey man, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I played your music at my dad’s funeral.’ If you haven’t got time to listen to that, why the hell are you in this business? So those are sweet things.”

The reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year acknowledges that the same privileges offered to him aren’t offered to artists in other genres, a truth that makes him all the more grateful to be embraced by his loyal fans.

“I worked with Billy Joel. I worked with KISS,” adds Brooks. “Those guys, when they walk out the door, it’s like they zip on this kind of a rock kind of thing, and it’s not like the same guy you were talking to. Country music, you can go out [dressed normal] everywhere you go. I don’t have that.”

Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, will wrap up their three-year World Tour with their final two shows at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 22 and 23, although Brooks hints a new tour is already being planned.