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Nearly three decades after Double Live became one of the defining releases of Garth Brooks’ career, one of the best-selling albums in U.S. history is finally arriving on vinyl.
Brooks is set to appear on a special Walmart Live event tonight, to unveil the first-ever vinyl edition of Double Live, which was recorded during the singer’s 1996–1998 world tour. The interactive broadcast, powered by the shoppable streaming network, TalkShopLive, will feature Brooks sharing songs and stories from the album, while giving viewers the ability to purchase one of country music’s landmark live releases before anyone else.
Brooks’ Walmart Live special airs tonight, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and you can stream the event below. Walmart will carry an exclusive edition of the album available for preorder, along with an exclusive Double Double Live package, as part of the broader vinyl release set to arrive in stores on Nov. 6.
Brooks is the latest artist issuing (or reissuing) his albums on vinyl, which has helped propel the physical format into a billion-dollar business for the first time since 1983. Rather than just announcing a release on social media though, the six-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year is teaming up with Walmart and TalkShopLive to make the album’s arrival on the format an event of its own.
Tonight’s Walmart Live stream will allow fans to “hear Brooks tell the story behind Double Live, watch him perform, understand why the vinyl edition matters, and buy the Walmart-exclusive package in the same moment,” according to press materials. “Instead of simply being the place where the album is sold, Walmart becomes one of the places where the album happens.”
The scale of Brooks’ career makes the moment particularly significant. With more than 200 million RIAA-certified album sales and 10 Diamond-certified albums, Brooks is an artist whose career has been buoyed by physical sales. But the Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee has also always maintained a close relationship with fans, and TalkShopLive says the 64-year-old Brooks was eager to find a new way to reach his audience — hence the Walmart Live stream.
ORDER ONLINE
Double Live (Vinyl)
Walmart exclusive 2-LP set.
“Double Live was built around the most important part of Brooks’ career: the relationship between performer and audience, and his career was built during an era when an album release could itself feel like a cultural moment [with] midnight sales, television appearances, radio premieres, and fans lining up to buy the record,” TalkShopLive says. “The next evolution may be making the act of buying physical music feel like an event again.”
The first live album from Brooks, Double Live was released on November 17, 1998 and sold more than a million copies in its first week, setting the then-record for the highest first-week sales. It has become the best-selling live album in U.S. history, and has been certified 25x Platinum by the RIAA.
Walmart Live, meantime, is a new streaming initiative from Walmart, allowing for interactive live shopping with celebrities and experts, and giving the retailer a chance to get involved with merch and product releases from the beginning, rather than waiting for the item to hit physical stores. Brooks’ team says the artist worked directly with the retailer to create the Walmart-exclusive vinyl release and to produce tonight’s show.
TalkShopLive, meantime, is a leader in shoppable livestreaming for entertainment and music. The video and e-commerce platform has hosted streams in the past for musicians like Kate Hudson, Brooks’ wife (and country superstar) Trisha Yearwood, and even the late Dolly Parton, among others.
