Brooks Boxed Set Details Revealed
Country superstar Garth Brooks, who retired from music in 2001, will be back in the spotlight later this month with the release of the “Limited Series” boxed set. As first revealed here in August, it will be available exclusively through Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, as well as Walmart.com.
Due Nov. 25, the project rounds up three prior albums, a previously unreleased DVD and a disc of never-before-heard songs from the Brooks vaults. In addition to 1997’s “Sevens,” the following year’s “Double Live” and 2001’s “Scarecrow,” the box sports the 90-minute “All Access” DVD, consisting of interviews, videos and live performances from throughout Brooks’ career.
Fans will be most pleased by “The Lost Sessions,” which includes 11 songs Brooks handpicked from his archives. Among them is the Chris LeDoux tribute “Good Ride Cowboy,” which is No. 6 this week on Billboard’s Top Country Songs chart. Brooks had not had a new single on the radio since 2003’s “Why Ain’t I Running,” which reached No. 24 on the same tally.
Because it is not available to all retailers, “Limited Series” will not be eligible for The Billboard 200 album chart, but is eligible for the Billboard Comprehensive Albums chart, which appears on Billboard.com. However, it appears that wholesalers Anderson Merchandisers and Handleman, which supply CDs to Walmart, may not report sales of the box to Nielsen SoundScan.
Brooks has recently been answering questions from fans about the deal on Walmart’s Web site and hinting at future releases, including the DVD debuts of his prior home video titles.
“One of the greatest gifts of the Wal-Mart deal is that it allows me to bring something to the people and stay at home with my children,” he said. “One of the other great things about the deal is it will bring us out of VHS and take us into the DVD era. But again, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s talk Christmas 2006.”
He also said he’d love to make a duets album with his fiancee, fellow country star Trisha Yearwood, something that would not have been possible when he was signed to Capitol.
“It took me forever to ask Miss Yearwood to marry me. I won’t wait that long to ask her to do a duet record with me,” he said. “My red tape … is gone. However, she is her own artist and has her own contractual agreements to abide by. Only time will tell, but if the opportunity comes along, I’d love to do it … for my sake.”
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