Will Garth Brooks’ Next Record Be a Concept Album?

Garth Brooks delighted fans worldwide with the release of Man Against Machine, his first studio album in 13 years, in November 2014, and now he's raring to put out another record. The prospect of another disc has the country superstar mulling the idea of a concept record: an album on which all of the lyrics and tracks contribute to an overarching theme or story.

"Concept albums are really blowing my mind right now, because if you want to promote an album, think about it -- a concept album might be the way to go," Brooks tells Billboard. "The great thing about albums is it gives you a lot of choices, and we can all say that the album business is dead, but watch Taylor Swift. I don't think it's dead. I just think we've got to hit on the energies that make people want to collect albums."

Although Swift's 1989 isn't exactly a concept record, Brooks is right: Swift certainly knows how to "hit on the energies that make people want to collect albums," as she had the best-selling disc of 2014.

Brooks admits he has "no idea" what a concept record of his own would look like, but he appreciates the interconnectedness of each song.

"The fact that they tie into each other, and the fact that you can have a single that you're really digging but there's [lyrics] in there where you're going, 'What the hell does that mean?' and it ties into something on the cut before kind of thing," he says, "that's a fun idea."

Also on Brooks' radar for the future is something quite touching: a duet with his late mother Colleen, who was a country singer signed to Capitol Records in the 1950s. With today's technology, Brooks confirms, "That's not out of the question."

While fans waited for many years for his most recent album, Brooks promises they won't have to wait nearly as long for his next one, whether it turns out to be a concept album, a duets album between Brooks and wife Trisha Yearwood or something completely different.

"We're planning on hearing something new from us hopefully around Christmas, or next spring," he says. "If you remember us, we do one about once a year, so it's coming up. It just seemed to work for us as far as the tour, being refreshed and new with new gas in it and stuff, the new music in it. It also lets you re-work your tour a year in, which is great 'cause it fits the new album."

The singer gassed up his tour bus in September for his World Tour, which also features Yearwood. A complete list of dates is available here.

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