By Kristin M. Hall
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) --Country music superstar Garth Brooks has more than just friends in low places. The Library of Congress said Wednesday the Grammy winner will receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in March 2020.
Previous recipients include Tony Bennett, Paul Simon, Carole King and Willie Nelson.
Brooks is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. His hits include “Friends in Low Places,” “The Thunder Rolls” and “The Dance.”
At 57, he’ll be the youngest recipient of the Gershwin Prize. He will be honored with an all-star tribute concert in Washington, D.C., that will air on PBS stations in spring 2020.
“An award is only as good as the names on it,” Brooks said in a statement. “First off, for any musician, the name Gershwin says it all. Add to Ira’s and George’s names the names of the past recipients and you have an award of the highest honor. I am truly humbled.”
Since his debut in 1989, Brooks has become a top-selling and touring musical force, bringing his brand of high energy and emotional country music to stadiums and arenas.
He is the best-selling solo artist in the United States with more than 148 million in album sales, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, and is second only in total U.S. sales to The Beatles.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Brooks combined his love of classic country music and cowboy songs with production typically seen in rock and pop acts. Seven of his albums have sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone, according to the RIAA.
In the early 2000s, he took a break from recording and touring to spend more time with his family. Brooks returned to major touring and recording in 2014 and remains one of country’s most popular touring acts. He is married to fellow country star Trisha Yearwood.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More