Chris Gaines: The Podcast

Hosts Ashley Spurgeon and Michael Eades explore the misunderstood career of Chris Gaines, the Garth Brooks pop alter-ego.

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Episodes

The Cultural Zeitgeist is Breathing Down Our Necks

Welcome to Chris Gaines: The Podcast. Join us as we investigate country superstar Garth Brooks mysterious fictional persona, Chris Gaines.
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There Is No Chris Gaines Without Garth Brooks

Hosts Ashley Spurgeon and Michael Eades partake in a well-researched chat spanning from the birth of Troyal Garth Brooks up to the end of 1998.
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Behind the Life of Chris Gaines

Who was Christian Gene Gaines? We review the known facts from birth to 1999; including Crush, Straight Jacket, Fornucopia, Apostle, Triangle and Greatest Hits.
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The World Meets Chris Gaines

From Jan 1999 to the Chris Gaines album release, we pull together all the disparate threads to weave the full story of Gaines birth into the world.
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The Critical Assertions of Chris Gaines

Examining the press reception of a smoldering rock and roll character that put together an album of R&B songs that was then pitched to Adult Contemporary radio. Not great.
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Notes on Camp: Finding Success in Passionate Failure

Having discussed the facts of the matter in great detail, Ashley and Michael approach Gaines from a more academic headspace.
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Make the Choice to Live the Dream

Ashley and Michael summarize the Gaines affair and leave a trail of ideas for Garth to pursue in the future.
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About the Project

Chris Gaines: The Podcast, the show where we take an exhaustive look at the career of country superstar Garth Brooks and his much maligned decision in 1999 to release music as the alternate personality Chris Gaines. The album, In the Life of Chris Gaines, was meant to be a pre-soundtrack release to a feature film entitled The Lamb, a way of letting the audience get to know the character before they went to see the movie. Despite selling 2 million copies, the album was considered a complete failure and heralded an early retirement from Brooks.

Hosts Ashley Spurgeon and Michael Eades have exhaustively researched the lives of Brooks, Gaines, the events surrounding the album's release and the fallout afterwards.

Join us as we share our findings and take a look at Chris Gaines twenty years after, from a post-snark perspective on this daring and misunderstood undertaking.

Follow us on Twitter:
@GarthGainesSNL

Photos by Miles Price.