Garth Brooks teamed up with Ronnie Dunn to release a brand new single yesterday, and unless you listen to country radio all day, you probably haven’t even heard it.
Titled “Rodeo Man,” the new song quickly became the #1 most-added song at country radio, but if you want to hear it on Spotify or Apple music, you’re out of luck as the song is only available on Amazon Music (par for the course for Garth Brooks).
“Rodeo Man” is also included on Garth’s 14th career studio album, Time Traveler (which is out today), but you’ll have to drive to your nearest Bass Pro Shops and purchase a seven-disc (yes, CDs) boxed set, The Limited Series, to get it. Can never make it easy to actually hear you music, can you, G?
But… we have a clip:
Speaking of the collab with Ronnie, Garth called it “buckin’ awesome,” (yeah, he really said that).
“It’s buckin’ AWESOME! Ronnie Dunn is simply one of the greatest voices in all of Country music.”
And while Garth turned off the comments announcing the big news (finally got tired of people asking him where he’s hiding the bodies, eh?), Ronnie Dunn maybe should’ve followed suit.
Ronnie shared the big news in his various social media accounts, and to be honest, I’m a bit surprised at how much Garth Brooks hate came flowing in. Garth Brooks and Brooks & Dunn are both ’90s country icons, you’d think they’d have a similar fanbase, but Ronnie’s comments indicate an overwhelming distaste for ol’ Garth.
It’s pretty brutal:
And over on Facebook… it’s worse.
Granted, Garth Brooks can still sell out a stadium in minutes, he can still sell a ton of records, he’s still one of the greatest of all time (whether he’s responsible for the start of bro-country or not). I’ve talked to a ton of artists in the country music world over the years, whether it’s been via podcast, interview, just hanging out, etc… and honestly, nobody has a bad thing to say about Garth Brooks. And trust me, I’ve asked… A LOT of people.
But it also seems like he’s definitely lost touch with a chunk of his fanbase over the years. I’d venture to guess that it’s driven by politics in part. Garth Brooks defended Bud Light, after the Dylan Mulvaney controversy, he’s performed at various Presidential inaugurations, and he recently called for more donations to Ukraine just to name a few, but I also think part of it is his refusal to be make his music accessible to fans.
You can’t stream it on Apple Music or Spotify, which is how most people consume music these days, especially young, engaged fans. I don’t have a CD player, Garth?… And then on top of it, he makes you buy all these box sets, full of albums you don’t want or already have, to get the new music and it just comes off as greedy and disingenuous. All under the guise of protecting songwriters? Who are you kidding?
Limited Series? What does that even mean… the same albums will just be in the next box set.
