Chris Gaines is a one-off fictional rock persona created as a movie character for Garth Brooks to explore musical styles far removed from his success as a country singer.
The Lamb was to have revolved around Chris Gaines, a fictional rock singer and his emotionally conflicted life as a musician in the public eye.
The project – a departure from Brooks' usual material – was intended to represent the "greatest hits" of Gaines' entire career, spanning several decades of supposed recordings.
Less than expected sales of the album (more than two million) and no further developments in the production of the film, as a result, brought the project to an indefinite hiatus in February 2001, and the Gaines character quickly faded into obscurity.
In March 2021, Brooks announced that The Life of Chris Gaines was to be rereleased on multiple platforms, including digital and vinyl, adding that previously unreleased songs were also forthcoming.