Garth Brooks catapulted to superstardom in the early 1990s, in part by bringing pop production values to country and creating a spectacular pyrotechnic stage show. Peel away the glitz and thunder, however, and what lies beneath is a gifted singer-songwriter in the classic tradition, one equally at home with country sentiment and rock bravura. When this Springsteen-in-a-cowboy-hat grew tired of country's constraints, he created an alter ego, Chris Gaines, in order to record more straightforward pop/rock.



























