Brooks still has the world on his strings

NASHVILLE — Garth BROOKS has just concluded his triumphant run of nine consecutive sold-out shows at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. His latest single recently became the first record ever to debut at No. 1 on the country charts. Sales of his new three-disc set, "The Ultimate Hits," put him back near the top of the national sales chart the week after the Recording Industry Assn. of America restored his status as the bestselling solo artist in U.S. history, having surpassed Elvis Presley to reclaim that title and remaining second overall only to the Beatles.

The word from Brooks' camp is that he's still retired from the music business, but after he said in Kansas City that was considering multi-show extravaganzas in other cities, he appears intent, as the title of his new single suggests, on being "More Than a Memory." His recent flurry of activity looks like nothing so much as the first phase of a well-oiled campaign to relaunch one of the most marketable brands in pop music.

That, however, wasn't the impression that Kevin King, program director at WSM-FM in Nashville, came away with after attending Garth Radio Seminar, a recent gathering in the country-music capital, where Brooks spoke to programmers from across the country about his conspicuous return to the spotlight after announcing his retirement seven years ago to spend more time with his three daughters, then ages 3, 5 and 7.

"He told us he had an obligation to do one more record for Wal-Mart and just decided to do a few shows to support it," King said. "His commitment to being a dad seemed as strong as ever. That said, once his kids are out of school, I think he'll give it another try."

As long-standing music-industry conventions fall by the wayside in a rapidly shifting world, Brooks has options today that didn't exist at the dawn of the millennium.

"The thing about technology is that it always takes yesterday's decision and changes today's result, because now you're able to do things with technology you couldn't when those decisions were made," said Lon Helton, publisher of Country Air Check, a Nashville-based music industry trade publication. "Who knows how this series of nine dates in Kansas City will affect him? It might make him look for new ways to stay faithful to the intent if not the letter of his promise. If the letter of the law is that he's not going tour again until his girls are out of school, technology might let him get around that exact statement while still letting him be at home 99.9% of the time."