Garth Brooks will continue his reign as CMA Awards Entertainer of the Year. The country superstar -- who won the title both in 2016 and, on Wednesday night (Nov. 8), in 2017 -- has spent the last three years crossing the country on his World Tour. But although Brooks might be one of the hardest-working artists in country music, he insists the credit for his success doesn't belong to him alone.

"I’ve got a band and crew that works their dog butts off," Brooks shared with The Boot and other reporters backstage at the 2017 CMA Awards. "If you want to know where we’re at right now, we’re in the middle of 12 shows in 10 days. Not 10 shows in 12 days -- 12 shows in 10 days. That band and crew works harder than anybody."

Brooks, who won his first CMA for Entertainer of the Year in 1991, noted that he's currently having some of the best years of his career while doing it on his own terms.

"[I'm] not on a record label," Brooks noted. "I’m not even sure what the whole diagram of business is anymore in music, but I’ll tell you what: If you surround yourself with people who believe ..."

The 55-year-old, who admitted after the CMAs show that he had to lip-sync to make it through his performance of "Ask Me How I Know," gave props to reigning CMA Awards Female Vocalist of the Year Miranda Lambert for her stellar performance of " To Learn Her."

"Let me tell you who fought the good fight tonight in my opinion: Miranda Lambert," Brooks boasted. "She’s one of the few females that we play, so you’d think she’d want to play it safe. She came out and she stuck country music in all of our faces tonight -- traditional country music."

Brooks will wrap up the North American leg of his World Tour in mid-December in Nashville. A list of remaining dates is available on Brooks' website.

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