Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood answer questions about life, music before opening show (+videos)

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood spent more than an hour talking to a room full Wichita media on Thursday afternoon, gamely answering questions about their life on the road, thoughts about modern country music and details about their family life.

The couple, in town to perform six concerts over four nights, appeared together in a meeting room inside the arena. As they talked, the band was warming up outside, and familiar strains of the couples’ hits – from “The Thunder Rolls” to “How Do I Live,” – drifted in to the room, at times making it hard to hear the soft-spoken Brooks.

“This feels like coming home,” said Brooks, casually dressed in a pullover Eskimo Joe’s sweatshirt (a famous haunt in his college home of Stillwater, Okla.,) baggy jeans, tennis shoes and a blue ball cap from his tour. “The tickets surprised the hell out of me in a very flattering, very humbling way. So the pressure is now on us, which is the way I like it. Now our job is to make what those people went through to get those ticket worth it.”

During the meeting, Brooks paced around the stage, laughed and often stood close to Yearwood, his wife of 10 years. He referred to her in all cases, affectionately, as “Miss Yearwood.”

He discussed his decision to take 15 years off from the music industry to raise his daughters, something he said he’s glad he did. The youngest just left for college, Brooks said, and that’s when his wife asked him if he ever thought about touring again.

“She knew I was going crazy,” he said. “The kids were leaving and the house was getting quiet, and she said, ‘Do you think about going on tour again?’ And the first fear, the first thing that hit me was, ‘No, because what if nobody shows up? Because you’ve been gone forever, and this business is very fast to move on.’

“If we did 50 percent of what we did in the ’90s, I’d be very proud. ... Wichita is a very good example. We’re doing 130-some percent of what we did in the ’90s, and I’m grateful. Very grateful.”

He talked about the strain of performing six shows in four days, which he described as the opposite of strain. Performing actually gives him energy, he said. Yearwood laughed when he said he’d play 40 shows in one weekend if he could.

“This guy wakes up like a puppy,” she said. “He wants to go. He could do 10 shows a day and be happy. And then when he hits the wall, he’s out.”

Brooks promised that he’d play his hits at his shows in Wichita. One of his pet peeves is going to a concert of a favorite artist and hearing just the new stuff.

“When they come in to town and dump a whole new album on you, I don’t like it,” he said.

After the conference, Brooks and Yearwood stayed to talk with each media outlet individually. We spent our time asking questions of Garth and Yearwood that Wichita Eagle readers had submitted earlier via Facebook.

Here are some of their answers:

Garth Brooks

Q: What is your favorite food that Trisha cooks? –Erin Craddock

A: Mashed potatoes. Always. And it doesn’t matter with what. She said, ‘We never had mashed potatoes and Thanksgiving,’ and I said, ‘We’re having mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving.’

Q: What do you think of current country music and the direction it is taking? – Miranda Dawn

A: Country music changes all the time, so when Garth Brooks’ ‘Friends in Low Places’ came out, the guys that I wanted to hear it most were George Strait, Haggard, and Jones. And those guys had to go, ‘Punk.’ Because it was based on Haggard, Jones and Strait but also based on Boston, Queen, Kansas, Styx. So these guys today – let’s be egotistical and say they were raised on Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney. But they’re also throwing in what they were also raised on, which is more beat-driven stuff – hip-hop, pop and all this stuff. So naturally it’s got a little more of a jump to it. The thing about country music you always find in it is sincerity. When you talk to these young kids, they all know their country music history. They’re all very sincere, sweet kids. It’s in great hands. It’s just going to change with every generation because of what you’re raised on.

Q: What’s the biggest thrill of your career? – Al Buch

A: “I think Central Park is the one they look at as the crown jewel. Five months before that or three months before that, we played at a place called Croke Park in Dublin. It was a religious experience. It was unbelievable. But I’ve got to tell you, this tour has stunned me. The fact that people are showing up. Here’s a great city and a great example. The numbers dwarf what we did last time and yet they’re not coming just to see what it’s all about. They’re coming sincerely to contribute. That is cool.”

Trisha Yearwood

Q: Will they ever cook together on Trisha’s cooking show? That would be fun!” – Lea Masters

A: He has been on. We just filmed season seven, and he’s on this season, too. He’s been on, I think, three times. He doesn’t like it. He gets nervous. He’s like, ‘I’m an entertainer. I know how to perform. I get out there, and I don’t know what to do.’ He does cook, but when you’re on the show, there’s a million things to remember, and I’ve done it so long, I’m kind of the quarterback. I’m like, ‘Okay, where’s what we’re going to do.’

I like having him, and viewers love to see him on there because it’s like, ‘Why are you in the kitchen in your house and Garth’s not there?’ Well, there’s a 30-person crew here. He’s not going to this every single day. But I have him on when it seems like it makes sense.”

Q: What are the Christmas traditions that you and your family continue to share together each year? – Lynae Reith

A: The biggest one is decorating. We take it seriously. I love Christmas, and so the minute Thanksgiving is over, the next day, we put the tree up. We left right after Thanksgiving, so we did get the tree up and we’ll get the rest of it done when we’re back. I like having that Christmas spirit start as fast as it can after Thanksgiving so you can enjoy it throughout the season.

Garth mentioned we don’t have our parents any more. My mom always did divinity candy and coconut cake and ambrosia, and ham and potato salad was our Easter thing and our Christmas thing. I make the food that we made at Christmas every year. That makes me feel more connected to them.”

Q: What has been their favorite family trip? – Sandy Riedl Stump

A: We did take my mom and the girls to Hawaii once. That’s the only vacation ever. It’s been about 10 years ago. Because we travel so much, our vacation is really being home. We talk about it. We’re like, ‘Lets go to a beach somewhere.’ We don’t end up going because we like being home. I’d say my favorite vacation is sleeping in and waking up and he’s made coffee and I get to sit and read a book.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood answer questions about life, music before opening show (+videos)."