Garth Brooks decision to bring a fictional persona into the world by the name of Chris Gaines was officially announced in March of 1999. In July of the same year, reviews and features started showing up in various publications as the first single “Lost in You” went out to Adult Contemporary radio and VH1. The album, In the Life of Chris Gaines, was available in stores on Sept 28th, coupled with a handful of late-night talk show appearances from Garth and a string of confused reviews. In mid-November, Gaines appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live and promptly vanished from the world.

There are many additional details surrounding this timeline worth investigating but the high level takeaway here is, Chris Gaines was a blip on the radar of pop culture; making it less than a year in the collective unconscious. As such, there’s only so much to say about the undertaking. Including this episode, we’ve devoted over six hours of discussion on the topic and feel good about the place we landed with it.

There may be a Season 2 in the future but, for now, let this time capsule be a document for future generations and scholars to reference; there was a Chris Gaines, and he burned too bright, too fast.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgainespodcast.com.

Follow us on Twitter: @GarthGainesSNL
Enjoy some GIFs: garthbrookschrisgainescountdown.com

Having reviewed the life of Garth Brooks, the life of Chris Gaines, the process of unleashing the fictional character upon the world and the world’s response to it, we have but one thing left to discuss; What exactly was this and why does it continue to fascinate the hearts and minds of pop cultural to this day?

Hosts Michael and Ashley share their thesis statements on the Chris Gaines project, taking a slightly academic approach to the affair. Despite there being no claim on expertise, Ashley leverages Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay Notes on Camp, to establish an undeniable theory for twenty-years of Gaines perseverance.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgainespodcast.com.

Follow us on Twitter: @GarthGainesSNL
Enjoy some GIFs: garthbrookschrisgainescountdown.com

The alternate title for this weeks episode was “Explaining It Over and Over and Over and Over and Over Again” as it is the underlying theme to the subject at hand. Hosts Michael Eades and Ashley Spurgeon take a look into the critical responses to the Garth Brooks fictional persona, Chris Gaines. His smoldering rock and roll character that put together an album of, mostly, R&B songs that was then pitched to Adult Contemporary radio had an unsurprisingly confused reception. Herein, we catalog much of the press that covered In The Life of Chris Gaines and find that much of it is simply trying to make heads or tails of what the project is, not so much how good or bad it is.

Spoiler alert, Chris Gaines was not well received – this much the world agrees upon – but there’s additional context and history that should be taken into account. We take time to sort through the baffling misusage of genres throughout the Gaines project, the impossible mountain the Capitol PR team had to climb to win over Snarky Legacy Rock Critics and how Brooks might have been three steps ahead, not two steps behind.

For full show notes, hit up chrisgainespodcast.com.

Follow us on Twitter: @GarthGainesSNL
Enjoy some GIFs: garthbrookschrisgainescountdown.com