Garth Brooks Reveals More Details Behind New Album ‘Gunslinger’
Garth Brooks, the best selling solo artist in music history, has revealed more details behind his upcoming 11th studio album. Making the announcement to fans tuned in to his weekly Inside Studio G Facebook Live webcast Monday night, the country icon revealed his LP’s title, Gunslinger, and release date, November 25th.
This is the second album released since Brooks’ return from temporary retirement, following 2014’s Man Against Machine. Gunslinger was originally planned to be released earlier this year, but in March Brooks announced he was delaying the project to spend more time writing songs.
The album’s artwork has also been unveiled (see below), featuring the musician in a black hat and red pearl-snap shirt, leaning against a saddled up horse with a rope in his hand.
The album’s name made its first appearance during the pre-game build up to CBS’ SEC college football Game of the Week, as Brooks’ song “Pure Adrenaline” is the program’s high-energy theme. As a result, some have described the name as a reference to risk-taking “gunslinger” quarterbacks, but Brooks says he was inspired to name the album Gunslinger after thinking about what his two-year-long world tour, which is still underway, has meant to him.
“The album title came to me when somebody asked me what my favorite thing about being on the road was,” he says. “I said, ‘It just feels good to be out there being a gunslinger again. Just aiming with the heart and shooting from the hip, that’s what you do on the stage, right? And, lucky enough, you’ve got the ammo of ‘Friends In Low Places,’ ‘Callin’ Baton Rouge,’ ‘Shameless’ and you do. You’re a gunslinger out there. And each show’s different and you just shoot from the hip all night long.’ As soon I said it, I knew that was the album title right there.”
The first single from Gunslinger – an upbeat, Nineties country throwback called “Baby, Let’s Lay Down and Dance” – was recently released to country radio, making its debut inside the Top 20.