Garth Brooks: 'Blake (Shelton) Kept Pushing For More Country'

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Garth Brooks' new duet with birthday boy Blake Shelton called "Dive Bar" is pretty country and according to Garth we have Blake to thank for that.

Brooks shared, “It sounds fresh, and it sounds like summer to me. That’s what I love. Blake kept pushing for it to have more steel [guitar], more country and stuff, which…Blake was nothing short of fantastic. It should be pretty cool. So let’s wave the flag for country music and for the summer…right here with ‘Dive Bar’.”

He posted to Instagram last night, "#DiveBar WORLD PREMIERE starts at 6am tomorrow ONLY on radio! What country radio station are YOU listening to? DIVE IN!!! love, g"

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Garth also notes that a new video for the song is in the works, “If you’ll look all the way back in the ‘90s, we just said, ‘Look – unless a video gets to bring something new to a song…why just re-do the song lyric?' So, the idea’s comin’ for this one – to do a video that I’m not sure’s been done before. Any time you get that chance, take it. This’ll be fun.”

“Dive Bar” is from Brooks' upcoming album FUN!

-Nancy Brooks

Blake Shelton Garth Brooks

Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media GroupEditor

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.