Chris Gaines: The Podcast

Garth Brooks decision to bring a fictional persona into the world by the name of Chris Gaines was officially announced in March of 1999. In July of the same year, reviews and features started showing up in various publications as the first single “Lost in You” went out to Adult Contemporary radio and VH1. The album, In the Life of Chris Gaines, was available in stores on Sept 28th, coupled with a handful of late-night talk show appearances from Garth and a string of confused reviews. In mid-November, Gaines appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live and promptly vanished from the world.

There are many additional details surrounding this timeline worth investigating but the high level takeaway here is, Chris Gaines was a blip on the radar of pop culture; making it less than a year in the collective unconscious. As such, there’s only so much to say about the undertaking. Including this episode, we’ve devoted over six hours of discussion on the topic and feel good about the place we landed with it.

There may be a Season 2 in the future but, for now, let this time capsule be a document for future generations and scholars to reference; there was a Chris Gaines, and he burned too bright, too fast.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgainespodcast.com.

Having reviewed the life of Garth Brooks, the life of Chris Gaines, the process of unleashing the fictional character upon the world and the world’s response to it, we have but one thing left to discuss; What exactly was this and why does it continue to fascinate the hearts and minds of pop cultural to this day?

Hosts Michael and Ashley share their thesis statements on the Chris Gaines project, taking a slightly academic approach to the affair. Despite there being no claim on expertise, Ashley leverages Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay Notes on Camp, to establish an undeniable theory for twenty-years of Gaines perseverance.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgainespodcast.com.

The alternate title for this weeks episode was “Explaining It Over and Over and Over and Over and Over Again” as it is the underlying theme to the subject at hand. Hosts Michael Eades and Ashley Spurgeon take a look into the critical responses to the Garth Brooks fictional persona, Chris Gaines. His smoldering rock and roll character that put together an album of, mostly, R&B songs that was then pitched to Adult Contemporary radio had an unsurprisingly confused reception. Herein, we catalog much of the press that covered In The Life of Chris Gaines and find that much of it is simply trying to make heads or tails of what the project is, not so much how good or bad it is.

Spoiler alert, Chris Gaines was not well received – this much the world agrees upon – but there’s additional context and history that should be taken into account. We take time to sort through the baffling misusage of genres throughout the Gaines project, the impossible mountain the Capitol PR team had to climb to win over Snarky Legacy Rock Critics and how Brooks might have been three steps ahead, not two steps behind.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgainespodcast.com.

Having provided the context for the life of Garth Brooks and the life of Chris Gaines, it’s time for us to pull together the disparate threads and document the events from early 1999 through the release of In the Life of Chris Gaines (and a little beyond).

From joining the San Diego Padres in Feb, to announcing the album in March, to the tragic passing of Brooks mother, to the talk show circuit that followed; we try to sew it all together for you.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgainespodcast.com.

On the last episode, we reviewed the journey that Troyal Garth Brooks took from birth to the end of 1998. This week, we flip the coin and take a look at all of the known facts surrounding Christian Gene Gaines. From his relationship to his parents to the release of his six albums (Crush, Straight Jacket, Fornucopia, Apostle, Triangle and Greatest Hits) to his issues with sex addiction, we tackle it all head on.

Put simply, this show serves as a deep dive into the phenomena of Chris Gaines and there’s no better way to contextualize Gaines than to examine his known life, start to finish.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgainespodcast.com.

In order to understand the mystery that is Chris Gaines, you must first understand the history and legacy of Garth Brooks. After all, there is no Chris Gaines without Garth Brooks. Hosts Ashley Spurgeon and Michael Eades partake in a surprisingly well-researched chat spanning from the birth of Troyal Garth Brooks up to the end of 1998, the last time the world existed without Chris Gaines.

While it may seem like a tease to eschew any direct Gaines chatter in this episode, it provides substantial context and groundwork for the undertaking itself. If you’re paying attention, the life of Garth Brooks and Chris Gaines mirror each other in many instances.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgaines.show.

Welcome to Chris Gaines: The Podcast, the show where we take an exhaustive look at the career of country superstar Garth Brooks and his much maligned decision in 1999 to take on an alter-ego by the name of Chris Gaines. The album, In the Life of Chris Gaines, was meant to be a pre-soundtrack release to a feature film entitled The Lamb, a way of letting the audience get to know the character before they went to see the movie. Despite selling 2 million copies, the album was considered a complete failure and heralded an early retirement from Brooks.

Hosts Ashley Spurgeon and Michael Eades have exhaustively researched the lives of Garth Brooks, Chris Gaines, the events surrounding the album’s release and the fallout afterwards. Join us as we share our findings and take a look at Chris Gaines twenty years after, from a post-snark perspective on this daring and misunderstood undertaking.