Garth Brooks' achievements speak for themselves, but even with all his accolades, the cowboy-hatted
musician has never really earned the total respect of his Nashville peers.
Whatever the reasons, he's accrued many celeb detractors over the years.
These are the stars who can't stand Garth Brooks.
In 2019, Eric Church treated fans at a Washington, D.C. show to a unique rendition of Waylon
Jennings' "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?"
For his cover of the country classic, Church featured the line, "I know Garth didn't do
it this way," and judging by the smirk on his face and the on-stage banter with his
backing band, The Chief wasn't exactly complimentary.
Church is no stranger to a bit of Garth Brooks-bashing.
He'd previously blasted the multiple chart-topper for lip-syncing at the 2017 Country Music
Association Awards, where he was crowned entertainer of the year.
Brooks had freely admitted to reporters that he'd mimed along to the track "Ask Me How
I Know" at the ceremony due to sickness.
But Church was having none of it.
In an interview with Rolling Stone a year later, Church went on a verbal tirade, saying:
"To me, lip-syncing is and always will be a red line.
It's fabricated.
I don't want young artists thinking it's OK, because it's not.
I felt like he was speaking for the other nominees.
I can speak for myself - I'm not lip-syncing.
If I can't sing, I won't sing, or I'll sing badly."
As for Brooks?
He seemed nonchalant about the beef.
"Just a, just a bunch of people telling me how I should have done it.
I guess, you know, my thing is if it happened today, I'd still do it the same way."
Garth Brooks' mimed performance of "Ask Me How I Know" at the 2017 Country Music Association
Awards certainly appeared to put the cat among the pigeons.
You would probably have expected a man as outspoken as Eric Church to put his two cents
in.
But even the normally mild-mannered Anderson East couldn't resist taking a jab shortly
after Brooks lip-synced for his life.
Yes, the Alabama-born singer-songwriter took to Twitter make it clear that he didn't believe
sickness and the issue of playing 12 dates in 10 days was a valid enough reason for turning
the mic off.
"I keep a lot of my opinions to myself and respect anyone making music but as a person
who tries to put on the best and most honest show I can night after night ... this truly
offends me.
I was told country music is three chords and the truth."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, East had another high profile country star in his corner, his then-girlfriend
of two years, Miranda Lambert.
After Anderson East's takedown of the country icon's performance, Lambert also made her
feelings crystal clear in a comment, saying:
"If you can't sing, then don't.
It's better to be honest than to pretend.
I think it's bulls---.
My favorite performances in the show were [live].
The truth."
However, some Brooks fans noted that Lambert's remarks were in stark contrast to those she
made about Beyoncé's miming of the national anthem at Barack Obama's 2013 presidential
inauguration.
The Pistol Annies member told Yahoo!
Entertainment that same year:
"I don't think it matters.
It's Beyoncé.
She can do whatever the hell she wants!"
"It was about the president and the inauguration, and I wanted to make him and my country proud."
As the artists formerly known as the Dixie Chicks learned the hard way, country music
artists dismiss a Republican president at their peril.
"Hundreds of stations simply stopped playing the songs they had celebrated over and over
again hours before."
Thankfully for Garth Brooks, his refusal to perform at Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony
in 2017 didn't completely derail his career.
However, he still faced a backlash from some of his more conservative fans.
Bristol Palin was one of the more high profile names to speak out about the snubbing.
She described a whole bunch of celebrities as, quote, "sissies" on her blog for turning
down the honor to welcome President Trump into the White House.
As well as taking potshots against Sir Elton John and The Chainsmokers, Palin also questioned
Brooks' stance, considering he'd had little problem performing at President Obama's Christmas
tree lighting celebrations.
However, Brooks later revealed on his Inside Studio G web show that politics didn't come
into the equation.
The star claimed that the popularity of his national tour meant that he physically wasn't
able to make the ceremony.
"We said if Cincinnati goes two weekends instead of one, then of course we're out.
Sure enough, Cincinnati did five shows, two weekends."
Apparently, one of Garth Brooks' fiercest enemies is a fellow country legend who he's
never even met.
According to country music writer Bruce Feiler in his 1999 book Dreaming Out Loud, Waylon
Jennings once described the superstar as, quote, "the most insincere person I've ever
seen ... He thinks it's going to last forever.
He's wrong."
Yet Brooks seems entirely baffled about this remark.
In fact, Brooks told Broadway's Electric Barnyard in 2014 that he'd never even crossed paths
with Jennings:
"For some reason man, I guess I was the guy that he targeted.
You know, it's kind of weird because all the people why I'm in the business, those people
say the reason they were in the business was Waylon.
So everyone loves him, and he's a legend, and I just kind of let it go.
I never knew what to say."
So why does Brooks think that Jennings took such a dislike to him?
Brooks said:
"I just think he was addressing the different sound in country music and the changing of
the guard.
That's tough for anybody to handle."
Although the chart-topper admitted that he found Jennings' disdain difficult to deal
with, he still has "nothing but respect" for the man.
Shooter Jennings appears to have inherited his legendary father Waylon Jennings' no-nonsense
approach, as well as his musical talents.
And the dominance of the bro-country scene seems to be a particular bugbear for the outlaw
hero.
He took aim at that in 2011 with his single Outlaw You.
Two years later, the bearded singer-songwriter once again trashed the more populist end of
the country music spectrum in a chat with the Charleston City Paper.
But this time around, he brought one of the genre's most commercially successful acts
into his argument.
In a slightly backhanded compliment, Shooter revealed that he disliked Garth Brooks' music
while growing up.
However, he was so offended by the new wave of country-pop acts that suddenly Brooks didn't
seem so bad.
As he put it:
"Garth Brooks is as country as s---.
Back then it was like, what the f--- is going on?
This guy is terrible.
This isn't country music.
I would take that any day now.
I would listen to only Garth Brooks all day if that's what I could get."
The outspoken star went on to compare all of Brooks' successors to the much-derided
Nickelback.
Shots fired, Shooter!
Sometimes an artist's fan base can be responsible for feelings of ill will.
Austin Lucas, a prolific singer-songwriter whose sound encompasses everything from crust-punk
and folk to bluegrass and country, certainly didn't appreciate a certain section of Garth
Brooks' audience while growing up.
In a 2009 interview with PunkNews.org to promote his fifth studio effort, Somebody Loves You,
Lucas revealed that Brooks' music used to always have negative connotations.
While discussing how he developed a love of harder-edged music, Austin said:
"Throughout the entire time, I would always listen to country.
Before that, I didn't really like it because I hated Garth Brooks.
Every redneck that wanted to beat me up for listening to punk loved Garth Brooks."
"Oh great, and now you're mocking me, you selfish, country-music loving lady."
However, in an unlikely U-turn, Lucas went on to admit that he eventually felt very different
toward the man in the hat.
"Now, I appreciate his songwriting and I think he's an amazing singer."
The Bloomington, Indiana, native even admitted that he's regularly mentioned in the same
breath as the country artist he once despised.
But thankfully, it appears as though he has little problem with such comparisons.
The Regina Folk Festival is one of the highlights of the Saskatchewan music calendar.
However, Garth Brooks appeared to throw a spanner in the works for its 50th anniversary
celebrations in 2019, when he announced two shows in the area that clashed with the annual
event.
Brooks-loving locals, therefore, had to decide whether to head for the Mosaic Stadium for
the country star's only Canadian dates or visit Victoria Park to support their town's
biggest festival.
You can probably guess what a lot of people chose.
"Thousands of people packing Mosaic Stadium Friday and Saturday to take in a Garth Brooks
spectacle."
One of the acts due to take to the Regina Folk Festival stage wasn't exactly happy with
this situation.
In a Twitter post, singer-songwriter Colter Wall wrote,
"I won't get too heated about Garth [Brooks] but I will say the city of Regina is blatantly
f---ing over Folk Fest this year by having [Brooks] play during the same weekend.
Pretty damn disrespectful."
A day later, he posted again on the same social media platform:
"Twitter feather ruffling and hilarious Garth videos aside, I hope everyone has a good time
regardless of what show they attend.
I also hope to see a little more foresight with regards to double booking events in the
future."
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