Now You See Him

OK, let’s see a show of hands:

How many of you think Garth Brooks is retiring from the music business, as he reiterated time after time this week, so he can spend more time with his three young daughters on the ranch in Oklahoma?

Let’s see now....

One tentative hand out there?

Two?

Maybe three in the entire Los Angeles Basin?

Well, it may surprise you, but I believe Brooks meant it.

The country music titan, who promoted what he calls his “last” album (released this week) with a nationally televised concert Wednesday at the Forum, knows he has enough of a fan base to keep filling arenas and burning up the sales charts until he qualifies for senior discounts.

But what’s the point?

Brooks, who will be 40 in February, has already sold more albums in the U.S. (100 million or so) than any other solo artist in history, and he’s heard enough applause for three lifetimes.

Though pop stars usually get addicted to the applause, this artist may have heard enough.

Brooks, whose mother died in 1999 and whose marriage ended in divorce last year, may feel it’s time to focus on more personal matters.

Who in his position wouldn’t think seriously of trading more of that same applause and sales for the chance to sit at the breakfast table with his daughters (ages 5 to 9) and feel their arms around his neck at night?

In his case, there’s even more reason to think he’s serious about leaving the music business.

The Oklahoma native is a competitive guy who has said he wants to go out on top. “I have respect for artists who keep making music their entire life, but I don’t want to ride that downside of the [sales] curve,” he said in 1996. “You want to be remembered at your best.”

Besides, Brooks probably realizes deep in his heart that the truly magical moments in his music career have passed, and that it’s time to apply himself elsewhere. He loves uplifting films such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Field of Dreams,” and he could explore screenwriting--a stated interest of his--without having to spend months on tour or in the recording studio.

Brooks isn’t a great singer or songwriter in the country tradition of Hank Williams and Merle Haggard, but he is a master communicator with a winning, everyman feel.

His first breakthrough more than a decade ago came with a series of songs that spoke from the heart with an endearing intimacy--the warmly philosophical “The Dance,” the sweet “Unanswered Prayers,” the rowdy, blue-collar “Friends in Low Places.”

Brooks bonded further with audiences by showcasing the songs in ultra-high-energy concerts that brought to country music the electricity and celebration of rock shows.

On Wednesday at the Forum, the elements still worked. It was again a thrill to hear such hard-core country elements as steel guitar and fiddle roaring through the speakers with Led Zeppelin-like force at various points during the two-hour concert, the first half of which was televised live by CBS to the East Coast and on tape delay to the rest of the nation.

But there was also a sense of being in a time warp, with Brooks and the audience reliving their shared history.

The reason for the concert, which featured guest appearances by country singer Trisha Yearwood and blues singer Keb’ Mo’, was to promote the new “Scarecrow” album. (He’ll star in two more CBS concert telecasts, Wednesday and Nov. 28.)

Despite some excess melodrama, “Scarecrow” is a welcome return to country music for Brooks after the dishearteningly generic pop-rock offerings on his 1999 “Chris Gaines” project. Rather than opening new doors, however, “Scarecrow” works best when it revisits old themes.

The sweet, devotional “Why Ain’t I Running” serves as this year’s “Unanswered Prayers,” and the chorus of the album’s highlight, “Pushing Up Daisies,” calls to mind the evocative challenge outlined in “The Dance.”

Brooks seems freshest on the album when he teams with Yearwood on the frisky “Squeeze Me In,” and he has said he is leaving the “retirement” door open to recording a long-discussed duet album with her.

You still felt the conviction when Brooks reprised “Unanswered Prayers” and “The Dance” during the post-telecast concert.

Yet Brooks never seemed quite as heartfelt as when he told the audience that he was looking forward to flying home after the show so he could attend a parent-child luncheon on Thursday.