Garth On His Anthology: I Didn’t Want Someone Else Telling Our Story

Just in time for the holidays, Garth Brooks' much-awaited The Anthology Part 1: The First Five Years is out, and the superstar is telling buyers what to expect.

The compilation includes a 200-plus page hardback "memory book" featuring personal photos, stories and key players in his life from 1989-1993, not to mention five CDs of demos, mastered hits and more. If it sounds pretty involved, it is, and that's on purpose. "I didn't want someone else telling our story," he recently told USA Today. "I wanted the people who were there telling our story. I'll never do an autobiography because the truth is only what I remember it to be for me. My truth might not be the same as [manager] Bob Doyle's. What I love in this book is there's Garth and there's Bob commenting on it. It's really cool."

Part 1 (there will be five in all) was the most challenging to create because Garth was often in producer Allen Reynolds' studio in those years and cameras weren't allowed. What has turned up is included, and surprised even Garth himself. "As the years get closer, there's so much more photography," he continues. "And everything has been cataloged from 1996 on, but the first five years were not. You didn't think anything was going to happen and then when it did, you could never catch up with it."

Garth Brooks' The Anthology Part 1: The First Five Years is available through Amazon here, among other retailers. "When this is done, it will be like an old-school version of Encyclopedia Britannica of Garth Brooks," he summarizes. The "Ask Me How I Know" singer is encouraging fans to share pictures of their copies of the project on social media (above), along with their reviews. Read more from USA Today here.

Teddy McDonald is a fun-lovin' country music fan man living in Nashville, Tennessee.