Garth Brooks gets honest about why he lip-synced his CMA performance

You might have noticed awkward timing during Garth Brooks’ performance at the CMA Awards and chalked it up to the typical delay that is built into live television shows. Brooks and his music didn’t seem to be in sync -- because they weren’t.

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When your whole life is ruined because you saw @garthbrooks on the #CMAAwards lip sync

😫— Catherine Cortez (@KittyKittyCathy)

But being the artist that he is, Garth openly admitted to reporters backstage, shortly after he was named the CMA's Entertainer of the Year, that he was lip-syncing to his newest hit single, "Ask Me How I Know." And it was for good reason -- his voice was under the strain of 12 shows in 10 days, and as he spoke, the coarseness in his voice was evident.

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Brooks said he and his team made a “game time call” on whether they should sing his tracks or lip-sync, and he chose the latter.

“We decided to lip-sync it because my voice just isn’t going anywhere, and we wanted to represent country music the best we can,” he said.

With a seven-night run in Spokane, Washington, starting Nov. 9, the superstar said he was doing his best to save what voice he had left for those performances.

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Brooks also took the opportunity to give a nod to Female Vocalist winner Miranda Lambert.

“Let me tell you who fought the good fight tonight, in my opinion: Miranda Lambert. She’s one of few females 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. So, she’s fighting the good fight.”

In a night that was filled with optimism, hope and healing, where artist after artist spoke about the family that is country music, it was just like Brooks to shine the spotlight on one of his peers.

Credit: Mike Coppola

Credit: Mike Coppola

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