Back in 1999, Garth Brooks took one of the biggest creative swings in country music history. As rock alter ego Chris Gaines, complete with a soul patch and a haircut (or wig?) that made him look nearly unrecognizable, Brooks released Garth Brooks in...the Life of Chris Gaines, also known as Greatest Hits, a 13-track album, which included the ballad and Top 10 hit "Lost in You." The album was intended to serve as a companion piece to the never-released film The Lamb, which wasn't filmed due to financial problems.
The fact that the movie never came to be led to Brooks' alter ego becoming the butt of plenty of jokes at the time, but, in recent years, Garth — er, Gaines — has been rightfully vindicated, with both fans and artists acknowledging the creative risk and effort that went into creating what remains a great album in spite of all its baggage. (Just listen to this stirring Childish Gambino cover of "Lost in You" for more proof.)
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And it seems that Brooks is still enthralled with the project as well. During the inaugural Billboard Country Live in Conversation event, Brooks shared that he wants to record more Chris Gaines albums and — since the first Gaines' album is a "Greatest Hits" collection — that would mean recording upwards of five new albums.
"The Gaines project was a lot of time put in — because it's not natural, you're acting on a record — but I want to do it simply for people who love the Gaines project," Brooks told Billboard's Melinda Newman. "And selfishly, I love the Chris Gaines record, so I want to do it for me. It challenged me as a vocalist. So I don't know when we're going to get to it, but it's on the list."
Speaking of acting, Brooks noted that while he's in awe of friends Bradley Cooper and Chris Pratt, he's convinced that a film career is not in the cards.
"Bradley Cooper has been very sweet to me, Chris Pratt has been very sweet to me," Brooks said. "I love what they do, but I couldn't do that."
So we may have to rule out that Chris Gaines biopic, but at least we have some more rockstar Brooks music to look forward to.
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