FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 5, 2001

SONGWRITERS CREATE TRIBUTE ALBUM TO GARTH BROOKS TO BE RELEASED APRIL 10

In The Beginning - A Songwriter's Tribute To Garth Brooks will be released on April 10th on VFR Records. The album, produced by Pat Alger and Kent Blazy, features eight acclaimed songwriters performing the songs they wrote and Brooks made famous. The songwriters on the album are Alger, Tony Arata, Larry Bastian, Dewayne Blackwell, Blazy, Stephanie Davis, Victoria Shaw, and Kim Williams.

Among the 16 songs featured on the album are "The Dance," "Friends in Low Places," "The Thunder Rolls," "If Tomorrow Never Comes," "The River," "We Shall Be Free," "Unanswered Prayers," "Wolves," and more. The album also contains one new song written by Blackwell and Earl Bud Lee: the humorous sequel to "Friends in Low Places" known as "Pains" (which Blackwell performed at last year's party celebrating Garth's sales of over 100 million albums).

The album had its genesis when these writers would occasionally get together in various combinations over the years and perform at clubs in Nashville. They were thrilled that the audiences loved hearing the original versions of the songs, and began thinking that fans outside of Nashville would enjoy hearing them as well. Thus, the album was born. "Kent and I agreed this [album] would be a great opportunity to show our appreciation to Garth and also to give his fans ...the opportunity to hear the stripped down, acoustic versions of some of the songs he has made famous. We send this...album out to him as a 'Postcard From Home' with our love, prayers, and thanks for all the music we've made together."

In the liner notes of the album, Brooks reflects on the title of the album, saying, "they should have called it The Way It Should Have Been Done." When asked about his relationship to the songwriters after over ten years, Brooks said "They all saw my life before this and they've all seen it afterwards. I hope they see what a difference they've made in my life, in the lives of my family and the people that I love."

The writers are planning to tour occasionally this year in various combinations in support of the album. An episode of the TV series "Live At The Bluebird" featuring the writers live in-performance has been taped and will air on the Turner South Network in early Summer.

### Scott Stem