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Garth Brooks Says He Can’t ‘Carry George Strait’s Shoelaces’

A week ago, Garth Brooks spontaneously decided to make seven songs – half the tracks recorded for FUN! – available in response to a Facebook friend’s question about whether or…

Garth Brooks Says He Can't 'Carry George Strait's Shoelaces'
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

A week ago, Garth Brooks spontaneously decided to make seven songs – half the tracks recorded for FUN! – available in response to a Facebook friend’s question about whether or not the album’s highly-anticipated release would be impacted by current events.

That meant that, in addition to “Dive Bar” (with Blake Shelton), “Stronger Than Me” and “All Day Long” and “The Road I’m On” and “Courage of Love,” he released “Party Gras (The Mardi Gras Song)” and “That’s What Cowboys Do.”

Garth said on Facebook Live, “We’ve got some people saying something sounds very George Strait kinda influenced.” While he admitted such praise was “very, very sweet…" he noted, "I can’t carry George Strait’s shoelaces.”

Brooks added, “I ain’t tryin’ to be him. But at the same time, when you listen to ‘That’s What Cowboys Do,’ I don’t know how you can miss that.”

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.