Popular music in 2023 is embarrassing and undignified.įlash forward to one week before Thanksgiving. I paid “Garth Brooks is selling his new album at Bass Pro Shops” as much mind as this month’s story about Snoop Dogg “giving up smoke” in order to promote a new partnership with a smokeless fire pit company. It mostly registered as another one of those stupid music industry “synergy” stories that frequently come across my timeline, in which a world-famous musician teams up with a highly successful corporate brand to once again prove that Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppingwas barely a satire. I think I heard about the “Garth Brooks + Bass Pro Shops” union when it was announced, but I quickly forgot about it. A perfectly logical and practical collaboration concerning the 17th studio LP by a man who has sold more than 170 million records worldwide was forged.

“And he said ‘Well, what can we do about that?’ and I said, ‘I’m looking for a partner for my last limited box set’ he was sweet enough to step up.”Īnd that was that. Garth naturally drew a parallel between the fight to preserve fresh water and the plight of veteran country stars who are resistant to streaming music platforms. “He talked to me about water conservation,” the singer-songwriter explained. Last year, Garth played the chain retailer’s 50th anniversary party and he struck up a friendship with CEO Johnny Morris. If that is the case, I will refer you to this Billboard interview published the day before the box set (titled The Limited Series) was released on November 7. Perhaps you are unaware that the best-selling solo artist in American pop music history has made his new record available at only 177 stores (including 82 combination Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s) known for selling hunting and fishing gear. I am referring, of course, to Garth Brooks and the packaging of his latest studio album, Time Traveler, inside of a seven-CD box set sold exclusively at Bass Pro Shops locations. Because he was, as always, his own idiosyncratic self.

And in the end, one could not help but admire his flouting of commercial expectations. But this person successfully challenged convention and upended previous notions of his work. Nobody saw it coming, and many were confounded by the move. Earlier this month, a Grammy-winning superstar took a bold left turn.

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