Garth Brooks enhanced his stature as the sweetest cowboy since Roy Rogers with a round of media interviews ahead of his 11-shows-in-10-days stand at Target Center.
Brooks just adores his Dale Evans, otherwise known as the country star-in-her-own-right Trisha Yearwood and the person Garth calls "my best friend."
In cattle-call-like media interviews, Brooks' handlers moved a lot of media in and out of there after a news conference that began with Mayor Betsy Hodges reading a proclamation she personally wrote for Brooks and Yearwood. That's not the norm, but Hodges is a huge fan who raised the bar pretty high for future city proclamations, Yearwood said.
I was told I would have "under five minutes" with Brooks. Now, I wish all interviews were as expeditious as this one; me firing off questions and subjects shooting back answers. I got just under two minutes with Brooks. That included him playing around with my startribune.com/video camera angles and the Oklahoma State U grad making it clear he's a fan of the Cowboys, not the OU Sooners. The situation was not helped by introducing myself as a Sooner, even though what I was trying to convey was that I, too, am from the Sooner State. Brooks is pretty mild-mannered so he got over the affront, observing that I was wearing orange.
Q: As a daddy of daughters I'm sure you've attended your share of tea parties, but has Trisha ever had you over for one of her miniatures-themed lunches?
A: She loves that stuff. Yeah.
Q: I know, I watch her Food Network show, "Trisha's Southern Kitchen."
A: Yeah.
Q: Are you more shy than we imagine?
A: I think so, probably.
Q: Who's your favorite non-country music act?
A: Freddie Mercury, probably, Queen.
Q: How many cowboy hats are in your closet?
A: No, honey. You can't count 'em.
Q: Do you iron your own jeans?
A: Yes I do, twice.
Q: How often do you encounter snakes on your Oklahoma estate?
A: E-ver-y day. My wife will tell you.
Q: Do you kill them or let them slither?
A: You know what. They say there are good ones and bad ones. The best ones are dead ones to me, I'm sorry.
Q: What aches the most when you get out of bed in the morning?
A: Um, that's a tough one. Right after a show: my lower back. I don't know why, but that's probably it.
Q: Garth seems like a perfect name for you but if you had to pick another stage name, what would you call yourself?
A: Trisha. [Long laugh] How was that?
Q: That was good.
A: Thank you very much.
Interviews are edited. To contact C.J. try cj@startribune.com and to see her watch Fox 9's "Buzz."