Garth Brooks says hearing ‘Much Too Young’ always ‘takes me right back’

If there’s one song that brings Garth Brooks back to his early years, it’s his 1989 debut single, “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old).”

Garth caught up with Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! to chat about his holiday plans, Vegas residency, new collection The Anthology, Part IV and early years in Nashville, where he recounted the very first time he heard his song on the airwaves.

“I was driving my truck in Nashville. There’s a place where 65 is cut by 40, I’m on that little strip and it comes on, ‘Much Too Young,'” Garth recalls.

“It’s been a long time for all of us,” he says of his multidecade career, “but any time I hear ‘Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),’ it just takes me right back.”

That moment, however, didn’t immediately shoot Garth to stardom.

“I was still working at the time. I was working at a boot store and cleaning churches and stuff,” Garth shares in the interview. “I was working with a guy, putting boots on him and ‘Much Too Young’ was on the radio, and I said, ‘That’s me,’ and he goes, ‘Yeah, right. The right one feels a little tight.'”

“We did that for probably another six [to] eight months, just kept working because you need that income coming in and it ain’t going to happen when you’re a new artist,” he adds.

Garth also performed his cover of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band‘s “Fishin in the Dark,” which says he’s “always wanted to cut.”

You can watch Garth’s full interview and performance now on YouTube.