When a country star (or music star in general) hits a certain level of fame, things get a bit boring. With a lot of money to spend and the right amount of creativity, some artists decide to take on an alter ego, usually in a completely different genre. Unfortunately for these country stars, their alter egos were pretty bizarre. Let’s look at four examples of country stars who had bizarre alter egos!
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1. Garth Brooks
We need to start this list off right with one of the most well-known country stars who had bizarre alter egos. Garth Brooks managed to wipe a lot of evidence of Chris Gaines from the face of the earth. Still, the internet is good at immortalizing things whether you like it or not.
Chris Gaines was Garth Brooks’ Australian rocker alter ego in the late 1990s. Initially, Brooks’ character was supposed to be the subject of an upcoming movie. However, fans really didn’t love Gaines, so the project was left on the shelf. Brooks did release one album under Gaines called Garth Brooks In… The Life Of Chris Gaines, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find any physical copies today.
[Catch Garth Brooks’ Residency Live In Las Vegas]
2. Hank Williams
Hank Williams’ alter ego Luke The Drifter was a spiritual invention. Most of the music Williams made under Luke The Drifter was very religious in nature and included a lot of spoken-word poetry. Some believe Luke was invented by Williams as a reprieve from his outlaw rebel persona as Hank Williams. Most of the music made under Luke The Drifter was released after Williams’ death.
3. Charles Kelley (of Lady A)
Charles Kelley of Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum) invented Dick Fantastic back in August of 2013. He even had a band called Dick Fantastic And The Fabulous Four Skins. The whole thing was obviously a joke, and the comedic character was easily embraced by fans of Lady A and Kelley’s sense of humor. However, it’s been a few years since anyone’s heard from Dick Fantastic, so who knows if the character and band will ever make their triumphant return.
4. Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift may not be a country star anymore, but this major pop star did have an alter ego when she was still making country music. This one-off character named T-Swizzle opened the 2009 CMT Music Awards with “fellow” rapper T-Pain. The performance was a silly one that showed T-Swizzle rapping about baking cookies and living with her parents. This alter ego hasn’t been seen since.
Photo by Vinnie Zuffante
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