Garth Brooks crying? Now there’s something you don’t see every day… Of course the “Friends In Low Places” singer has been known to shed a few tears every now and then. And by that I mean he cries…a lot. But who can blame him for this one? Back in March of 2020, Garth was chosen to receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which was presented to him during a tribute concert featuring performances from Keith Urban, Lee Brice, Ricky Skaggs, Keb Mo, his wife Trisha Yearwood, and of course, the great Chris Stapleton. And it’s safe to say that Stapleton stole the show. Stapleton took the stage to honor Garth with a performance of his 1991 hit single “Shameless,” from his third studio album Ropin’ The Wind. In the early going, Garth was steady as a rock, with his wife Trisha Yearwood sitting stone-faced beside him. (She probably knew what was coming). Once Chris really got going though, G just couldn’t contain himself anymore. Trisha still pretty stone-faced, but just imagine that gorilla-strength dad grip Garth has on her hand right now. She’s in pain… And then…. the waterworks… Finally, the standing salute. Stapleton clearly took Garth on quite the emotional rollercoaster. But honestly, I can’t even blame him for this one: The song was originally written and recorded by Billy Joel a couple years prior for his 1989 album Storm Front, with Joel saying he was inspired to write the song because he wanted to write a song in the style of his own musical idol, Jimi Hendrix. Garth’s version, which actually featured his future wife Trisha Yearwood singing background vocals and harmony, was described by Garth as a risky song when he released it. And you’ll never guess how he heard the song for the first time: He got the CD by signing up for one of those penny CD clubs that were so popular in the ’90s: “”Shameless” was the longest shot we took with a song. I was talked into becoming a member of a CD club…you know, the 40,000 CD’s for a penny deal. With those clubs, they write you with the selection of the month. If you don’t write back and cancel, then they send it to you and charge you for it. I was on the road for six months with no one to check the mail and came home to find six compact discs in my mailbox. Storm Front by Billy Joel was one of them. I hadn’t listened to Billy Joel since the late seventies, probably since Glass Houses. I fell in love with the album and fell back in love with Billy Joel’s music. One of his songs really captured me, a song called “Shameless.” I kept watching it, and when he did not release it as a single, we contacted his people in the hopes that we could cut it. His people sent us a letter acknowledging that he knew who I was and was very honored that I was cutting it. That was quite a compliment for me then, as it is now. My hope is that Billy, as writer, hears this cut and says, “Yeah, man, the guy’s got balls.” Can’t you just imagine Garth getting locked into one of those scams? Even today he seems like the guy who would get a call saying a family member needed him to wire $100 million in Bitcoin to Nigeria and he would do it without a second thought. Of course he would probably cry afterwards…The post Watch Chris Stapleton Bring Garth Brooks To Tears With Tribute Performance Of “Shameless” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.