The year started out with the American Music Awards, and Garth received the award for best male artist.

Next up the People's Choice Awards, where Garth received the award for Male Musical Performer.

Garth continued his tradition of awarding fans who see his shows by giving the 2,000,000 ticket holder a Caribbean trip and a new truck.

March contained some of the most exciting news of the year, regarding Garth... He would give a free concert in Central Park, on August 7th. This following stars such as Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, and Elton John.

Not only that, the whole show would be broadcast by HBO, and Garth would release his new studio album, Sevens, to coincide with the concert.

More good news this month... Garth won Blockbuster's Artist of the '90's.

April brought our first negative news in the fact that there were rumors flying that Garth and his record company, Capitol-Nashville were feuding. Capitol denied the rumors

May brought more happy news as Garth made a trip to Ireland for three sold out concerts. He set up a huge stage, and performed in front of 120,000 people. Besides the concert, Garth was also filming segments for an upcoming movie, "The Lamb," and the concert itself was filmed for release in the U.S. on the following St. Patrick's Day.

Trisha Yearwood and Garth finally get together and record a duet called "In Another's Eyes," which would be released on Yearwood's Songbook: A Collection of Songs, as well as Garth's upcoming Sevens album, which at this time had no release date.

An online auction of many unique items, including one of the white baby grand pianos used in the filming of Garth's "The Red Strokes" video. The piano eventually sold for $9,000, which went to the T.J. Martell Foundation, for research in Leukemia, Cancer, and AIDS.

The feuding between Garth and Capitol, which was denied in March turns out to be very true, and Sevens release is postponed.

The beginning of Summer brought with it an appearance by Garth on the Grand Ol' Opry.

July was the month that Garth went "home" again. He played 8 sell out shows in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Just when you thought Garth could do nothing better, along comes his Central Park concert. Garth succeeded beyond even his imagination, and broke the attendance record previously held by Paul Simon.

The HBO broadcast was the most watched and highest rated original program in 1997. It's said that the concert was watched by 14,600,000 people in 7.5 million homes that evening.

Garth's special guests were his idols, Billy Joel, and Don McClean.

Garth and Trisha release "In Another's Eyes," which will be on Trisha's September release Songbook: A Collection of Songs

Costs of running the Garth Store in downtown Nashville became too much, and the store sadly closed its doors at the end of the month, despite pleas from fans.

The Country Music Association Awards came around and Garth won the coveted Entertainer of the Year. Garth wasn't in attendance, however, he was out doing what he does best... entertaining his fans, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The end of the month also brought the 3 millionth fan to see Garth live, and of course, there was another celebration. Garth gave the Iowa couple, holder of the 3 millionth ticket, a car, a truck and a shopping spree at a local Lincoln, Nebraska mall.

Tickets went on sale in Chicago for an October 24th show at the Rosemont Horizon, and Garth set a record for selling out 8 shows in one city. He did 6 shows in October and 2 in December.

Nearing the holiday season, Garth and Capitol/EMI finally sat down and compromised on a deal to release Garth's album, Sevens on November 25th.

November was the month fans had been waiting for. Sevens would finally be released. The first single, "Longneck Bottle" came out in early November, and it had mixed reviews. There were stations that wouldn't play it, saying it was "too country" for their format. In the end, the song caught on and quickly soared to the top of the charts.