Pretty tough scene here for country music legend Garth Brooks…
Its hard to find someone that doesn’t at least know the name of the “Friends in Low Places” singer. And for those die-hard and even casual fans who know most of Brooks’ expansive country music catalogue, they would most likely know of Garth’s 1998 hit cover version of “To Make You Feel My Love.”
The original version of the song was actually written and recorded by legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in 1997, and has been covered a multitude of times since, including Garth’s in 1998 and Adele’s in 2008. And with that in mind, a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show might be proof that Garth’s daughter is not a fan of his music.
In a segment titled “Rockstar Roulette,” the wheel that Brooks spun landed on Adele, which led to him elaborating on one of the funnier music mix-ups you’ll ever hear. After Adele’s name pops up on the screen, Garth states:
“Oh, phew, this is tough, this is tough because the story that comes to mind is not a good one.”
The short introduction to the anecdote garnered a gasp from both Clarkson and her studio audience, with the talkshow host immediately imploring for Brooks to continue on.
Which he did:
“Yeah, I’m so sorry, my youngest… probably 12 or 13 years ago… came in from school, and she goes: ‘Dad, Dad, you’ve got to hear this song from Adele. I’ve never heard a song like it.’
I said ‘Really? What’s its name?’ and she says ‘To Make You Feel My Love.’
I said ‘Oh really? Tell me about it.'”
Clearly Garth’s daughter just so happened to miss out on both the original version by Dylan and Brooks’ incredibly popular cover. The timeless song has also been covered by the likes of Neil Diamond, Boy George, Michael Bolton, Michael Bublé, Pink, and funny enough, Kelly Clarkson. Brooks recorded the song for the motion picture Hope Floats, with the cover eventually making its way into the Billboard Top Country Songs chart upon the soundtrack’s release.
Getting back to the interview, Garth continued on with the story:
“People always ask ‘Well, which is her favorite version?’ And I say ‘I don’t know, we haven’t spoke since that day.'”
I think it is perfectly fair for Brooks to have his feelings hurt on this one, but I also understand where his daughter is coming from. When you are growing up, you want to discover your own things, and sometimes even want to rebel against your parents a bit. She simply thought she had found the world’s best song and wanted to share it with her country music artist father, but she was just a decade late doing so.
And even Garth himself went on to explain that though he had a lot of confidence in his version of “To Make You Feel My Love,” Adele really made the song her own on her 2008 album 19:
“You walk around thinking ‘To Make You Feel My Love, I feel pretty good about my version.’ But then you hear Adele’s version, all of the sudden you’re like ‘Well okay, I get it, everything she touches just sings, it’s beautiful.'”
The full clip from The Kelly Clarkson Show can be seen below:
And while you are at it, you might as well fire up Garth’s version of the song:
And Adele’s from 2008:
And if you want to go for the “To Make You Feel My Love” triple crown, go ahead and press play on Bob Dylan’s original version:
Garth Brooks Loves Chris Stapleton Cover Of “Rodeo”
At this point, I’d be way more surprised to find a video of Chris not crushing than crushing…
Back in March 2020, Garth Brooks was honored with the Gershwin Prize and a tribute concert was held in his honor. While videos of the performances are hard to come by, we already know Chris Stapleton stole the show with his cover of “Shameless”, which had G bawling like a baby.
But, there was another performance by Chris that blew the roof off the place, and I just happened to stumble across it… Chris also sang “Rodeo” in honor of G, and it got the crowd absolutely ROCKING. The grit in his voice brought out the sad in the lyrics, but also kept the song’s snarly attitude for a cover unlike we’ve ever heard before.
I could listen to Chris sing just about anything, but man, this was really enjoyable…
I mean, just look how happy G is watching Chris shred up there.
Trisha… not so much, but she’s probably just locked in, right? I mean, at any moment G would break into tears and she has to be ready with the Kleenex. Do you think the Secret Service is smiling on the job when they’re protecting the President? Hell no, they’re in the zone, ready to sniff out any sign of trouble before it starts.
Same thing with Trisha… ready to tackle those tears the second they start rolling down Garth’s cheek. Still though, just look at G right here… like a kid in a candy store.
