Trisha Yearwood Almost Changed Her Last Name to Match Her Husband, But Garth Brooks Declined the Offer

Garth Brooks held a press conference in Nashville, TN on Thursday (June 15), where he announced the launch of his SEVENS Radio Network and The BIG 615 radio stations – which will focus heavily on traditional country music from both male and female artists. He hopes to keep country music alive. 

During the press conference, he was asked by one of the reporters if his wife, Trisha Yearwood, was involved in the new radio station at all. Before answering the question, Brooks decided to share an intimate and adorable story that goes to show just how close the two have come in the past 20 years. 

As the two were celebrating their anniversary last year (2022), Trisha offered to change her last name to match her husband’s last name (Brooks). She had the documents and was prepared to make it official, but Garth ended up declining the offer and explained that her last name is synonymous with who she is.

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“She was sweet enough for our anniversary last year to have the documents where her official last name was Brooks. I declined it,” he said on June 15. “I’d be fine changing my name to Yearwood. Tradition doesn’t count here. What counts is when you have two celebrities, don’t have one swallow the other.”

Going back to the original question, Garth Brooks says he’s currently planning to launch a woman-centric radio station called BABE – which stands for ‘Bad A** Bit**es of Entertainment.’ While his wife isn’t involved in SEVENS Radio or The BIG 615, he would ‘love to see her heavily involved’ in BABE. 

His press conference comes less than two weeks after he talked about how his role as both a husband and father has changed over the past few decades. While he doesn’t have any children with Trisha, he does share three adult daughters – Taylor, 30, August, 29, and Allie, 26 – with his ex-wife Sandy Mahl.

“I sucked at being a husband, I was horrible at it. I was horrible at being a dad. I had to get my s–t together,” he told Billboard on June 7 – adding that he wouldn’t have survived back then if social media was a thing. “I will tell you this, the person you’re with [does make] a huge difference in your life.” 

Garth Brooks Talks about Artificial Intelligence in Music

Garth Brooks was also asked about his thoughts on artificial intelligence (AI) and its modern impact on the music industry – and life in general. One reporter asked him if he would ever record a song that was written by AI, but Brooks didn’t sound on-board yet – though he’s keeping an open mind with it. 

“You’re always open to any songs, so you don’t care who the writer is unless it’s somebody that they’re trying to destroy the world,” he said before recalling a recent moment where his The BIG 615 station used AI to mimic his voice, which was then used for radio liners on-air – he never had to record a thing. 

“They had liners they wanted me to do, so they went through AI to do it. And I’m going, ‘That’s me, I don’t remember doing these liners.’ I am listening to AI and it had the little laugh in it,” Brooks said of his run-in with AI. He went on to explain how AI could be used to entend the careers of musicians and artists. 

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“The hopeful in me, I’m not sure what the hopeful is unless AI can create Garth Brooks of a certain age and he can tour in hologram forever. I would go in a heartbeat to go see the Fab Four all together again. It’d be fun,” he said, but not before adding the need for regulation when it comes to new technology.