Country superstar Garth Brooks has never been afraid to change up his image (see the ill-advised 1999 transformation into his alter ego Chris Gaines as one example), but will his next reinvention land him in the realm of politics? According to an interview with Robin Leach in the Las Vegas Sun, the idea is not out of the question.

The issue came about when Leach asked Brooks about his involvement in the clean-up effort in Haiti after a massive earthquake ravaged the country in 2010. He is quoted in the article saying, “I think the main thing that I learned from Haiti this year by driving through Port-au-Prince that struck me is that with a few bad decisions, my own country could be in that shape in a few years.” Leach then asked if that type of thinking ever led the singer to consider using politics as a way to become a different type of leader, to which Brooks replied, “Yeah, sure… If we cannot stop voting on what’s Democratic and what’s Republican instead of what’s right or wrong, we are doomed. Maybe it’ll be up to people like me to make it better.”

Though Brooks has been essentially retired from the music business since 2001, he is planning to do a new round of intimate shows at the Encore Theater at the Wynn resort and casino in Las Vegas. The singer has been performing the shows since December 2009, and is on stage alone with just an acoustic guitar for every performance. The interview notes that each show is different, and have ranged anywhere from 95 minutes to 2 ½ hours. The song selection consists of songs from Brooks’ own back catalog, as well as a selection of covers. The next slew of dates will feature eight shows, spread out between March 2 and June 9. Brooks has performed occasional charity events since his retirement, and has said that he may return to touring and recording when his youngest child graduates high school in 2014.

The likes of Allen Toussaint, Leon Russell and Garth Brooks were honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame at their recent gala, which is held annually in New York City.

Some of the inductees on Thursday night you may not have recognized amidst the famous faces. Until you heard their famous songs that is.

Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg could probably walk down the street without being recognized. However, they have written several catchy, famous hit songs, including “Like a Virgin” by Madonna, “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper, “So Emotional” by Whitney Houston and “I’ll Stand By You” by The Pretenders.

Referring to the Madonna song, Kelly said, at the time that was pretty risque. It took about a month for us to finally fall accidentally into what that song ended up being.

Another inductee was John Bettis. He wrote “Crazy For You,” the Madonna hit single, in addition to hit songs for Diana Ross, the Carpenters and The Pointer Sisters. He also wrote Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” Skylar Grey performed the song during the gala.

Cynthia Weil and Barry Man were presented with a Johnny Mercer Award by Bill Medley from The Righteous Brothers. The married couple wrote “You Lost That Lovin’ Feelin,” the mega hit single.

Medley said we were very lucky they wrote the song for us.

“You Lost That Lovin’ Feelin” is still going strong and has had over 14 million airplays.

Inductees were joined by other artists on stage during the show, with key performances including Trisha Yearwood singing a medley of Hal David hits, Toussaint and Boz Scaggs performing “What Do You Want the Girl to Do,” and Russell and Dwight Yoakam singing “Superstar.”

Drake performed “Best I Ever Had,” his hit single, and Chaka Khan sang “I’m Every Woman” by Ashford and Simpson.

Garth Brooks was inducted by Billy Joel. He later performed “Shameless,” the 1991 Brooks hit, which Joel wrote. Brooks was thrilled.

Speaking of songwriters, here is one of the all time greatest songwriters, said Brooks referring to Joel. He took the time to do this. I’m very lucky.

According to Joel, he loves having other artists record his material. However, he says he didn’t ever intend on being a rock star.

Joel said, I don’t like my voice. Really I don’t. I’m not a good singer, although I do think I am a good songwriter.

Additional dates have been tacked onto Garth Brooks occasional Las Vegas weekend residency at the Wynn Resort & Casino. The Vegas concerts will now extend into the fall.

In addition to three weekends that were previously announced for June and July, he will now play shows on August 19-20 along with two September weekends (September 9-10 and September 23-24) as well as October 7-8 and October 21-22.

Each night shows will be taking place at 8 pm as well as 10:30 pm. Tickets for the recently added shows will be going on sale on Saturday, May 21 via Ticketmaster. Prices are $225 in addition to tax and a service charge for a total of $253.

In late-2009, Garth Brooks signed a long term contract with Steve Wynn, the billionaire resort tycoon, to perform on 16 weekends each year at Encore Stage, a Wynn resort property. Recently, Brooks cut out his performances on Sundays and added second shows for Fridays and Saturdays to replace them.

It appears that tickets to see Garth Brooks are in great demand for Las Vegas as well as Nashville.  The country icon, who is semi-retired and recently sold nine concerts out in Nashville to help with recovery efforts after damaging floods earlier this year ravaged Tennessee, is a hot ticket in Las Vegas as well.  He is performing at Wynn Encore Theater.  In fact, he is so in demand that Steve Wynn, the hotel owner, has raised the ticket prices on Garth’s concerts by $100.

Wynn said, when the greatest performer of live music in our time is appearing in an intimate theater such as this, seats need to priced competitively with all the other great entertainers in Las Vegas.

The price jump increases the cost of the tickets to $225 from $125.  Originally Garth wanted to charge much less for his shows.  Brooks originally asked tickets prices to be set at $25.  He said that was the price his fans were accustomed to spending in order to see his shows.  Wynn recalled, we decided finally that all of the tickets would cost $125.  All of the seats in the place would be ringside seats in a stadium.

The Grammy award winning country singer and Trisha Yearwood, his super star wife, are very excited to be involved in the experience of Vegas.  Trisha said, we discussed it.  At first we thought, this will never happen.  Then we were say, it would be very cool, but no.  Then finally we said, hey this could really work.  The reason why it worked I have to say was due to Mr. Wynn.  Garth and him are both passionate about music.  He overcame all of our objections.

Garth’s Wynn Encore show will run through 2014.

2010-2011 Garth Brooks Concert Tour
December 2010
3-5 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Stage @ Wynn Las Vegas
16-17, 19-20, 21-22 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena

January 2011
21-23 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Stage @ Wynn Las Vegas

February 2011
11- 13 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Stage @ Wynn Las Vegas
25-27 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Stage @ Wynn Las Vegas

Garth Brooks, country music legend, will be pitching in to help Tennessee flood victims when he returns to a stage in Nashville later this year.  It will be the first time Brooks has been on stage in Nashville in over ten years.

Brooks and band will be hosting their first arena concert, and currently only one, of the year at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on December 17.

The price of tickets will be $25 plus handling.  Additional information will be posted on Brooks’ website on November 3.  According to a recent press release, all proceeds from ticket sales will be going to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee directly in support of victims of the spring floods in the region.

In his press release, Brooks said, I’ve been very proud to watch how Tennessee has been able to pull together and rise above the damages caused by the floods.  Through all of this the character of the Volunteer State has been amazing.  I am honored to be able to be part of this healing process.

The concert was announced by Brooks on October 28 on the Old Supreme Court building’s steps in Nashville along with Trisha Yearwood, his wife, and a group of politicians that included Mayor Karl Dean, Senator Bob Corker, Senator Lamar Alexander and Governor Phil Bredesen.

Brooks, according to reports will be determining if he will add more performances to his itinerary after seeing if there is a demand for tickets.

According to a report published in the L.A. Times, Brooks said, I’m not wanting to chase anything.  We will begin with one performance.  Then we’ll see what happens after that.  Not one penny of this will go to us.  If we do perform more shows, it just gives us more chances to play.

The last time Brooks performed in Nashville was 1998, a few years before he announced he was retiring from country music.  The musician returned last December to take up residence at Encore Theater in Las Vegas to do an intimate acoustic show series.  On November 5, he will be returning to the Vegas stage.

2010 Garth Brooks Concert Tour
November 2010
5-7 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas
19-21 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas

December 2010
17 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena

Garth Brooks has had enough of retirement already. The country icon is putting on the 10-gallon hat and strapping on the cowboy boots for 16 weeks of shows under the twinkling lights of Las Vegas. The Garth Brooks tour will be performing exclusively at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino resort. The shows will take place over a four month run playing two to three shows per week.

The first performance will take place on December 11 with dates currently penned through February. The weekend format will run as one Friday night show, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Garth will be boarding the private jet Wynn secured for him so he is cozy in his bed in Oklahoma on Monday morning. Tickets will be priced at $125 a piece with an initial onsale date of October 24.

Garth Brooks made his retirement official in 2000 at 39 so he could spent more time with family. He has taken brief hiatuses from retirement most noteably the nine show stint at Kansas City’s Sprint Center in 2007. Brooks has sold more albums in the US than any solo artist in history (128 million).

2009-10 Garth Brooks Concert Dates
December 2009
11-13 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas Resort

January 2010
1-3, 22-24 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas Resort

February 2010
12-14, 26-28 – Las Vegas, NV – Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas Resort