Garth Brooks Admits to Lip-Syncing 2017 CMA Awards Performance
Garth Brooks may have gone home with the Entertainer of the Year trophy at the 2017 CMA Awards on Wednesday, but the evening wasn’t all smooth sailing for the country icon. Brooks is taking considerable heat for his performance of the single “Ask Me How I Know,” which he admitted to lip-syncing after rumors began circulating.
To his credit, Brooks faced up to the truth and cited his hectic touring schedule as the justification.
“We’re in the middle of 12 shows in 10 days. Not 10 shows in 12 days, 12 shows in 10 days,” he told reporters backstage at the CMA Awards. “We did a game-time call on whether to sing the track or lip-sync, and decided to lip-sync. The voice just isn’t there anymore, and you want to represent country music as best you can.”
The Entertainer of the Year award marked Brooks’ sixth career win in the category – the most of any country performer ever. “Ask Me How I Know,” from Brooks’ 2016 album Gunslinger, is his first top 10 hit in a decade, and his first since his 2014 return to regular recording and touring.
The Country Music Hall of Fame member recently announced plans to wrap up his three-year world tour with a blowout at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena – his first time to play the venue since hosting a series of flood relief shows in 2010. Tickets for that show go on sale tomorrow, November 10th. On November 14th, Brooks will release Part 1: The First Five Years, the first installment of his massive five-part multimedia anthology.