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Garth Brooks reveals his version of ‘roughing it’; talks with KTLA about narrating new NatGeo series

Country star Garth Brooks is lending his legendary voice to National Geographic.

He serves as the executive producer and narrator for the channel’s series “America’s National Parks.”


“I think they picked Garth Brooks for the simple reason of [he’s] the squarest person on the planet who just loves this country and the treasures that are within these borders,” the country star told KTLA 5 Morning News. “But to proudly speak of the courage it took to start these and maintain them, and the cool wonders of life that go in them. How lucky are we?”

While Brooks has traveled the world as a country megastar, the series inspired him to take to the road to check them out.

“I told Ms. Yearwood, ‘we’ve got to figure out how to get to these things,'” he explained. “We’ve got national parks that have aurora borealis in them that I never understood was even available to our borders here.”

The “Low Places” singer was wowed by the sites and sounds of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska. “There are sounds that are being made, that these guys are capturing, I’ve never heard in my life,” he exclaimed.

When it comes to visiting the parks, you won’t find Brooks necessarily roughing it.

“I’m a comfort guy,” he revealed. “No canoeing! No tenting! I’m going to go there in a Winnebago and a big bed and just get to enjoy being in our national parks.”

While he doesn’t see sleeping bags as a bad thing, he would prefer a nice warm bed.

“You can do it, but if you have the choice. Why?” he pondered. “It’s so much cooler to get to enjoy everything while you’re awake, but when you sleep, get in that comfort sleep. Give me that air conditioner, that heat, whatever it is. That’s my kind of way of roughing it.”

The series is a partnership between the Grammy-award winning singer and First Lady Jill Biden.

Biden will introduce the five-part series, while Brooks will continue with the narration.

“America’s National Parks” premieres Aug. 29 at 9 p.m. on National Geographic. It’s a week-long event that will air five episodes over the course of five nights.

All of them will be available to stream starting Aug. 31 on Disney+.