Garth Brooks Teases the Return of Chris Gaines

Many of Garth Brooks’ fans are familiar with Chris Gaines, the pop-rock artist briefly personified by the country music icon in the late ’90s. As Gaines, Brooks released one album, Garth Brooks in… The Life of Chris Gaines, and it seems he’s still got a little more up his sleeve. In a new interview with Billboard, Brooks discussed Gaines’ potential return, seemingly hinting that fans haven’t seen the last of him.

“Trust me, it’s got a whole life of its own and it’s all coming,” he shared. “It won’t be anything predictable, I can guarantee you, because that’s kind of what that character’s thought process was.” The Life of Chris Gaines was intended to be a soundtrack to a movie about Gaines, titled The Lamb, though the film never materialized. “If you know the greatest hits, they had to come from somewhere, if that tells you what’s coming,” Brooks said.

Speaking to Yahoo! Entertainment in 2019, Brooks admitted that his time as Gaines was “tough” for him. While his album as Gaines was a success, many fans and critics were confused by the character.

Along with The Life of Chris Gaines, Brooks also performed as the character during an episode of Saturday Night Live and for an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music. “A lot of people misunderstood it, and my ribs are still sore from getting the s— kicked out of me for it,” Brooks said. He also contradicted his point to Billboard, saying that he “would never even really get close to it again.”

“It really was a really tough time for me, because of the fact that I saw for the first time that people can be focused on something way past the music,” he continued. “And that’s never a good thing, when music takes a backseat.”

After the interviewer, who shared that they were a fan of the project, asked Brooks whether he had any fond memories of the experience, he offered a diplomatic answer.

“What I enjoyed about it is you survive it, and [fans] are very sweet,” he said. “And then all of a sudden you realize the people who got it, got it. And the people who never got it, never picked it up. So that makes me feel good, because I got to tell you, I’m surprised you brought this up, but everybody that ever does mention to me it says it’s their favorite Garth Books album! I don’t know how to take that! But it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work.”