📍Yukon, Oklahoma, USA
1962 – 1980“Garth Brooks grew up in Yukon, a small town just west of Oklahoma City, the youngest of six children in a blended family. His father, Troyal, worked for an oil company, and his mother, Colleen Carroll, had been a country singer who recorded for Capitol Records and appeared on the 1950s television show Ozark Jubilee. The house was crowded, noisy and musical, and every week the family held talent nights, where each child had to sing, play or perform a skit. Garth learned to play guitar and banjo, and learned early to win over a room. Yukon was a close-knit, sports-mad town, and he played baseball, basketball and football and ran track. He graduated from Yukon High School in 1980 and went to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater on a partial track scholarship as a javelin thrower, studying advertising. In Stillwater he worked as a bouncer and began playing in local bars, especially Willie's Saloon, where he built a loyal following singing George Strait songs and his own early material. His first trip to Nashville ended quickly in rejection, and he went home to Stillwater to keep playing. When he returned with his wife, Sandy, he was signed by Capitol, the same label his mother had sung for, and his debut album appeared in 1989. His songs about friendship, small towns and ordinary dreams carry the feel of those talent nights in Yukon. The town renamed a street Garth Brooks Boulevard in his honour, and he later moved back to Oklahoma for several years to raise his daughters close to home.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today