Brooks, Yearwood may have been exposed to COVID

Every Girl: Deluxe

Trisha Yearwood's reissue of 2019's "Every Girl" as a deluxe edition with three new songs makes sense on some level. Logistically, having the title track lead off instead of the somber "Workin' on Whiskey" on the original version sets a more pleasant tone. Plus the listener gets a taste of the new material quickly. "I Dare You To Love" is up in the number two spot. It is textbook Trisha in her heyday. The soft piano intro brings Adele's ...

Gunslinger

If naming your release "Gunslinger," you'd better let it rip and go for a harder country sound, especially if donning a black cowboy hat on the cover. The reality does not exactly match that sentiment for Garth Brooks, but at times he comes mighty close. The high points for Brooks are the three most traditional country songs - a couple of honky tonkers ("Honky-Tonk Somewhere" and "Cowboys and Friends") and a ballad ("Whiskey to Wine"). ...

PrizeFighter: Hit after Hit

Trisha Yearwood is better known these days for being on the Food Network for her cooking show and publishing cookbooks plus being Mrs. Garth Brooks than she is for her own recording career. "Prizefighter" is a greatest hits collection plus with 10 hits and 6 new songs, going all the way back with her career song and debut single, "She's in Love With the Boy," which still resonates 23 years later. There are the upbeat ("XXXs and OOO's" and "Heaven, ...