Garth Brooks Sings a New Tune

Garth Brooks photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville

August 13, 2007 — Garth Brooks is setting the table for a new release, and this time, Billboard reports, you won't find it only at Wal-Mart.

After selling exclusively through the big-box merchant for the past two years, Garth will once again make his music available to all retailers, but in a surprise move, his Pearl Records imprint apparently will be self-distributed, although Big Machine Records will be involved in promoting the new cuts to radio.

According to retail sources, Garth will issue a three-disc boxed set, "The Ultimate Garth Brooks," on November 6 or 13. The set will contain a 34-track, two-CD greatest hits retrospective with four new songs, and a DVD with videos, many of them recently filmed, for all tracks on the CDs. In addition, Garth is rereleasing his catalog titles, some of which have been on moratorium at general retail outlets since 1998.

The first single from the set is expected in September. One of the new cuts is reportedly a remake of Huey Lewis' 1982 hit "Workin' for a Livin'," on which Huey plays harmonica.

Radio programmers from across the country, who have been given few details, have been invited to an August 17-18 event in Nashville, and Garth has also scheduled an August 18 press conference there.

Meanwhile, speculation regarding a live performance aspect to Brooks' resurfacing has centered on an extended run in one market. Standing offers from promoters have apparently been on the table for Garth since his retirement in 2000. Last time out, he shattered country touring records with an outing centered on his 1998 Capitol release "Sevens." The three-year extravaganza grossed more than $105 million (country's first $100 million run) and drew close to 5.5 million people. Notably, Brooks charged a relatively paltry $20 per ticket when he likely could have demanded three times that amount.

Since retiring, Brooks has made sporadic live appearances, including a Hurricane Katrina benefit, a Grand Ole Opry appearance in 2005 and a more recent performance at a Live Earth concert in Washington, D.C. He previously said he would not embark on a full-blown tour until his youngest daughter graduates from high school in 2015.