Fame is notoriously fickle. For every enduring star like Aretha Franklin or Clint Eastwood, there are hundreds who burn brightly and then fade from the stage.

(You’ve been warned, Miley Cyrus.)

Then there’s Garth Brooks. The country crooner sat atop the music world in 2001 when he decided to call it a career. He’s not the first performer to cry retirement only to return some time later. Except that Brooks’ change of heart came roughly 14 years later.

Could Brooks reclaim the mantle at age 53?

The music landscape has changed dramatically in his absence. Digital music is now the norm. Social media can make or break a career. Audiences listen to music via Spotify, Pandora and other streaming services. How would Brooks fare in such a climate, particularly since he has been reluctant to share his songbook with those outlets?

He’d always have his hardcore fans. Heck, even modestly successful acts work the reunion tour circuit to make ends meet. Brooks was different. He was a superstar, period. He boasted six albums with sales of 10 million-plus each. Could he reclaim that mantle at age 53?

In a word, yes. He didn’t just sell out shows during his current tour that began back in 2014. He forced cities to keep adding new performances to keep up with demand. Credit his energetic live persona, which marries the populist elements of rock and country. Or how he focused on family over fame, letting fans know his time away was well spent. He took an extended break to be a father to his children. His current tour features wife Trisha Yearwood.

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He was born Troyal Garth Brooks on Feb. 7, 1962, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mother Colleen Brooks was a singer in her own right, but young Brooks was moved by both music and sports. The former eventually won out, but it took two separate moves to Nashville before a scout was impressed enough by his live act to sign him to a Capitol Records contract.

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He would conquer not just the country charts but the pop ones as well. In concert, Brooks acts like a rock god, complete with a headset mic that gives him all the freedom he needed.

It hasn’t all been exactly like old times. His first new album in more than a decade, 2014’s “Man Against Machine,” wasn’t a blockbuster. It went platinum all the same, nudging Brooks past Elvis Presley for the best-selling solo artist of all time bragging rights (for U.S. sales). The album still paled compared to the numbers modern stars pile up, like Taylor Swift’s “1989,” which raced past “Machine’s” total sales figures in its very first week.

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So what’s next for Brooks?

He’ll soon play multiple concerts in Milwaukee, Cleveland, Dallas and Phoenix, and additional shows and cities can’t be ruled out. An updated version of one of his signature tracks, “Friends in Low Places,” recorded with fellow country singers George Strait, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line, is in the works for the song’s 25th anniversary.

What’s not on the agenda? Plans for a second retirement.