Live streams are cool. But have you ever walked away from your laptop and just watched an entire TV hour of country stars bringing the hits from their home to yours?
On Wednesday night (April 1), Garth Brooks and his wife Trisha Yearwood went live on CBS for a new primetime special GARTH & TRISHA LIVE!
The two country stars let the cameras into their home studio for an unrehearsed hour of music, and managed to pack about 19 songs into their special special.
But Brooks and Yearwood also took some time to share the reasons why they were so eager to bring their music into fans’ homes.
“CBS has been sweet enough to put all the money (from the show) toward fighting this COVID-19 virus, by helping the people on the very front lines who are giving their lives to help us so we can keep ours,” Brooks explained. “In regular bad times, it’s your military on the front line — always — your men and women in blue. And now, it’s all the doctors, nurses, volunteers, all those people on the front line.
“We love you guys. You have all of our strength, and all of our prayers.”
Yearwood echoed her husband’s sentiments, saying, “Everybody in the world is experiencing this on some level. We all know somebody who is a first responder, we all know somebody whose mom or dad has tested positive for coronavirus. This is something that affects us all. We are all in this together. There’s a comfort in knowing we are all in this together. And we will get through it.”
With just four people in Studio G — Brooks, Yearwood and two of their team members taking requests from fans online and sharing the occasional living room dance parties — they filled the hour with their own songs, and some covers that felt right right now.
The couple did most of the songs together, but there were some solos and some background harmonies. And most of the songs were the full version, but for brevity, they shortened a few.
Set list from GARTH & TRISHA LIVE!
1. “We Shall Be Free”
2. “The River”
3. “Landslide” (a 1975 Fleetwood Mac cover)
4. “She’s in Love with the Boy”
5. “Wrapped Up in You”
6. “If Tomorrow Never Comes”
7. “Standing Outside the Fire”
8. “Girl Crush” (a 2014 Little Big Town cover)
9.-11. A medley of their duets: “Love Will Always Win,” “In Another’s Eyes” and “Whiskey to Wine.”
12. “The Dance”
13. “I’ll Carry You Home”
14. “Mainstreet” (a 1977 Bob Seger cover)
15. “She’s Tired of Boys”*
16. “Shallow” (a 2018 Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper cover from A Star Is Born)
17. “To Make You Feel My Love”
18. “If It Hadn’t Been for Love” (a 2008 The SteelDrivers cover)
19. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (a 1939 Judy Garland cover from The Wizard of Oz)
Toward the end of the hour, Brooks said he’d been thinking about a line that might make for a solid country song about this quarantined life we’re living. “Let’s open our eyes and let’s figure this out, and get back to lives that we all bitched about.”
Yearwood also shared that gratitude goes both ways. “Everybody been so nice and thanking us,” she said, “but we want to thank you. Because we want to connect as much as you do.”
And together, as the show came to an end, the country couple encouraged everyone to stay home. “Please, this moment, make that sacrifice not to be with the people you want to be, so we can all get together sooner and get back to being us.”
Thanks for letting us be part of the healing! We love you all, g & T #GarthAndTrishaLIVE pic.twitter.com/fomMFzgFJe
— Garth Brooks (@garthbrooks) April 2, 2020
* This is one of Brooks’ newer songs, and he wrote it with Amanda Williams. She’s the daughter of the late Kim Williams. Brooks and Williams met in the early 90s, and together they created some of Brooks’ biggest hits like “Papa Loved Mama,” “Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up),” “She’s Gonna Make It” and more.