Garth Brooks stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night (Dec. 17) to promote his new album, Man Against Machine. Kimmel took the time to talk to the country icon before he hit the stage to perform the emotional ballad "Mom," and in the process he found out why Brooks took such a long hiatus from recording. He spent 13 years away from the music business to raise his children.
"The greatest gift I've ever been given by God and the people was the time allotted just to stay home and raise my babies," he said, Taste of Country notes. "I got to know 'em inside and out, which when I came off the road, to tell you the truth, I didn't. I didn't know my own children. I know them now — trust me — more than they like or more than I'm comfortable with."
The three Brooks siblings are now in college, so the singer decided to hit the road to help pay for tuition, he joked. That's not all that's changed in his life though. His touring vehicles are a little more luxurious compared to the old days.
"We had seven of us in a six passenger van and all our gear ... when we got our first bus though, what I loved about our first bus was it smelled so bad of diesel," Brooks added. "Your clothes reeked, and if you wanted to go in reverse, you had to get out and push it 'cause it didn't have reverse."
Brooks went on to perform his touching new ballad. He managed to get through it this time without getting choked up, and to everyone's delight, it was done with a full band. The performance serves as more evidence that the singer's on his game. Check it out below.
