Garth Brooks’ Truly Unique Connection to the Southern Tier
As it turns out, the Southern Tier has quite a strong connection to the man who just so happens to be the number one selling solo musician in United States history.
When he was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on February 7, 1962, he was named Troyal Garth Brooks but today, the world just calls him Garth, Garth has sold a staggering 157 million records and is a name known by people of all walks of life from all around the globe.
So how exactly is Garth Brooks connected to the Southern Tier? Well, 98.1 The Hawk was one of the very first radio stations in the world to play Garth's music when he first broke out as an artist and in a nod of thanks, Garth wore a bright goldenrod colored 98.1 The Hawk t-shirt in two of his very early music videos. Garth's management has always told 98.1 The Hawk through the years how thankful Garth is that the station gave an unknown dreamer a shot.
Garth is also connected to the Southern Tier through a woman named Tracy Greenwood. Tracy grew up in Little Meadows as Tracy Jones. Her father, Howdy Jones Sr. owned the local ballpark where she and her older sister Nancy dragged the field between games.
Tracy would grow up to marry a man named Mark Greenwood who just so happens to be the bass player for Garth Brooks. Mark has played bass at Garth's live shows since 1994. Additionally, Tracy acts as one of Garth's tour managers when he is on the road.
But wait- there's more. Karyn Rochelle lives in Nashville and is a professional songwriter who has written songs for George Jones, Ronnie Milsap, Reba McEntire, and even Trisha Yearwood. In addition to writing songs, Karyn also sang backup for Martina McBride, and in 2014, she was asked to open shows not only for Trisha Yearwood but also for Garth Brooks on his world tour.
Karyn's family hails from Binghamton and we learned this when Karyn opened for Garth in Albany five years ago and gave her Binghamton family a shoutout and asked if they'd remembered to bring her a spiedie.