Garth Brooks: One Guitar, $1250 A Ticket

Garth Brooks fans everywhere can now experience Garth onstage as GAC presents Garth: One Artist, One City, One Night, a 90-minute music special premiering Thanksgiving weekend, Friday November 23, 2007 at 8 p.m. ET. Photo courtesy of PR Newswire.

June 17, 2008 — Garth Brooks covered songs by George Jones, George Strait, James Taylor and Cat Stevens in a 45-minute solo concert Saturday at a charity event in St. Paul, Minn., that -- at $1250 a ticket -- raised more than $5 million for the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

Garth’s wife — Trisha Yearwood, who was in the audience — is a big supporter of Starkey, whose annual So The World May Hear Gala is set up to aid children with hearing problems around the globe. In fact, Garth told the crowd that his 11-year-old daughter, Colleen, suffered a 35 percent hearing loss and that Starkey fitted her with the right hearing aid.

Rather appropriately, sound ended up being a big part of the evening. Garth ran through several of his hits, according to The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, including "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," "The River," "The Thunder Rolls," "Friends In Low Places" and his closer, "The Dance." In addition, he covered a bunch of the artists who influenced him, kicking off the show with Merle Haggard’s "Mama Tried," then adding George Jones’ "She Thinks I Still Care," James Taylor’s "Fire And Rain," Cat Stevens’ "Wild World" and Bob Seger’s "Night Moves."

"James Taylor is why I play music," he told the crowd. "George Strait is why I play country." Then he did a version of George’s first hit, "Unwound."

Garth’s audience at the RiverCentre was packed with celebrities. In addition to Trisha, the room held R&B singer Sam Moore, pop songwriter Paul Williams, model Cheryl Tiegs, actors Lou Ferrigno and Robert Culp, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, golfer Arnold Palmer and baseball greats Ozzie Smith and Rollie Fingers.