{"id":1318452,"date":"2020-02-27T09:23:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T16:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1818538"},"modified":"2020-02-27T09:23:30","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T16:23:30","slug":"garth-brooks-says-be-proud-to-be-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/garth-brooks-says-be-proud-to-be-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Garth Brooks Says, \u201cBe Proud to Be Country\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span>
\n20m ago<\/span>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\u201cBe proud to be country.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Garth Brooks had to say over the weekend at one of his stadium tour stops. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing: country music is treated a lot like the distant cousin sometimes,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut make no mistake: we have the best audience, we have the most loyal audience \u2014 and I am speaking from experience \u2014 we have the largest audience on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that kind of mindset about the genre that makes it obvious that Garth Brooks deserves the Icon Award he is going to receive at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards on April 29 in Las Vegas. The honor will put him a category of artists like Cher, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey. Brooks will be the first country artist to be named an Icon. <\/p>\n

\u201cBillboard has been the voice of radio as long as I can remember,\u201d Brooks said after hearing the news about the Icon award. \u201cSo proud to go and represent country music with an award that they don\u2019t give to country music much.\u201d<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to Billboard<\/em>, Brooks is the first artist to have appeared on Billboard\u2019s Hot Country Songs chart in the \u201980s, \u201990s, \u201900s, \u201910s and \u201920s. <\/p>\n

In 1989, his debut single, \u201cMuch Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),\u201d entered the chart at No. 94 and peaked at No. 8 that July. (He recently told USA Today<\/em>, \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it made the record. I couldn\u2019t believe it was the first single. Now, I can\u2019t imagine it not being, you know?\u201d) Brooks co-wrote the song with Randy Taylor. <\/p>\n

In the 30 years since, Brooks has amassed nine No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, breaking the record for a country artist.<\/p>\n

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