Garth Brooks, the best-selling solo musician in U.S. history, said on Thursday he was coming out of retirement and was expected to announce an extended concert run at the Wynn Las Vegas casino and hotel.

I know this is a young industry, so I'm not sure I'll be welcomed back but, if the fans want me, I still want to pursue my music, Brooks told reporters at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.

A two-time Grammy winner and winner of 11 Country Music Association awards, Brooks' brand of rock-tinged country music topped the charts in the 1990s. He has sold 113 million albums, putting him second to the Beatles in all-time U.S. sales.

Brooks, 47, hired a private plane to transport reporters to an unnamed site where he will announce his immediate plans.

The destination was widely tipped on websites and in newspaper gossip columns to be Las Vegas and Steve Wynn's casino hotel. Brooks was expected to announce a four-month run of two to three shows a week.

Wynn Resorts Ltd said in a statement it would be announcing a new music schedule.

The hotel's Encore Theater has not had a permanent headliner since the death of comedian Danny Gans from a combination of prescription painkillers and a heart condition in May.

Brooks officially retired in 2001, saying he would devote himself to his three daughters at his home in Oswasso, Oklahoma, until his youngest turned 18. She is 13 now.

He said on Thursday that coming out of retirement offered him the freedom to do as he pleased but he did not expect much to change over the next five years. He divorced in 2001 and wed country star Trisha Yearwood.

In 2005, Brooks began performing occasionally, mostly at charity events.