In 1961 Elvis Presley, long the best-selling solo artist in the U.S., came to Hawaii for a concert to raise money needed to finish the Arizona Memorial. Fifty-four years later Garth Brooks, now the best-selling solo artist in the U.S., is coming to Hawaii for four concerts commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

All net proceeds will support four historic sites that preserve the legacy of America’s participation in World War II in the Pacific: the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument (USS Arizona Memorial), the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park and the Battleship Missouri Memorial.

“It’s an honor to do these shows,” Brooks said, calling from his home in Nashville, Tenn. He describes the four concerts, at which he’ll appear along with wife and country music star Trisha Yearwood, as “my chance to serve.”

“It’s going to be a very special, one-time-only show,” he continued. “We’re not bringing the band, we’re not bringing the crew, we’re not bringing all the effects and everything — it’s going to be my wife and I and a guitar. The things you want to hear in a Garth show — ‘The Thunder Rolls’ and ‘Workin’ on a Full House — yes, we’ll do them, but what’s gonna make up the rest of the evening I think has to be personal for you guys and personal to me.”

Born Feb. 7, 1962, Brooks was 28 when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and set in motion the string of events that ended with the Persian Gulf War, and almost 40 when the United States and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003.

“My older brothers were in Vietnam, my father was in Korea,” Brooks said. “I didn’t have anything.”

Approached with the opportunity to participate in a fundraiser for the World War II historic preservation, Brooks enthusiastically jumped into the effort. In fact, he said, “We are covering our own expenses to get there, hotels. We’re not charging anybody a cent.”

To paraphrase a line from one of Brooks’ early hits, he and his wife will be playing to a full house each night. The first two shows announced sold out so quickly that two more were added. Concert organizer Ron Gibson, president of Ron Gibson Entertainment, said good tickets remain available for the upcoming Thursday show, while limited tickets for other shows will be released as production holds are lifted over the next few days.

It’s Hawaii’s first opportunity to see Brooks perform in the islands. The country music superstar has long won over fans via records and radio: According to the RIAA, he has earned the title of best-selling solo albums artist by moving more than 138 million albums in the U.S., leaving him second only to the Beatles in total album sales. He is also one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 160 million records — so far.

Raised in Oklahoma and a current resident of Tennessee, Brooks is a prime example of the way country music has become America’s music, drawing admirers from across the spectrum and often outselling or crossing over with pop.

BROOKS AND YEARWOOD are very much musical partners. They’ve been touring together since 2014, and this year they’re celebrating the release of a holiday duets album, “Christmas Together.”

They got married in 2005. Eleven years later, Brooks remains a man in love, and songs on the couple’s album reflect that. “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and “I’m Beginning to See the Light” are duets, while Yearwood sings “Santa Baby.”

When Brooks is talking about Yearwood, signs of his romantic streak become evident.

“No matter what you do, once you find that person, it’s the first time in your life that forever isn’t long enough,” he said. “You want to just be breathing the same air that they’re breathing. If she’s in here reading a book and I’m in here writing a screenplay or cooking or something — it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you’re together.”

One of the things the couple does well together is make music. An instant — albeit unlikely — audience favorite off the new holiday album is a song with the unlikely title of “Ugly Christmas Sweater.”

The song is getting attention for its revival of Brooks’ signature, playful humor, with its line, “There’s really nothing better than a beautiful girl in an ugly Christmas sweater.”

Brooks said, “John Martin, a friend of mine, came to me with that idea. I told him it was crazy, but I helped write it. I didn’t think the song was possible — I thought, ‘What a terrible title!’ — but somehow it found itself. We just played in Orlando for a Disney special, and by the second time the chorus came around, thousands of people were singing it word for word.”

On Thursday the pair was scheduled to perform at this year’s lighting of the National Christmas Tree, along with the Lumineers and a singer-songwriter whom Brooks calls his “musical god,” James Taylor. The event will be broadcast Monday on the Hallmark Channel.

On the new holiday album, Taylor joined Brooks and Yearwood on a song they wrote, “What I’m Thankful For (The Thanksgiving Song).”

“I worship him and he’s very sweet to me,” Brooks said, adding that he occasionally wonders how Taylor would handle a piece of music. “I wish I could just email him or call him and say, ‘Hey, man, what do you think about this?’ I think he would be fine with that, but I don’t think I could let myself do it.”

DEFYING conventional wisdom or the search for chart recognition, Brooks took several years off from touring and recording between 2000 and 2014, saying he wanted to concentrate on being a father to his three daughters, now adults.

No sooner did he begin touring again, in 2014, than fans enthusiastically joined in, giving him a string of sold-out concerts across the country.

Brooks now has another new hit with “Baby, Let’s Lay Down and Dance,” released in October as the lead single off his 10th studio album, “Gunslinger.”

Also new is “The Ultimate Collection,” a 10-disc boxed set that includes “Gunslinger,” two discs of live recordings and a seven-CD retrospective of his music.

At Target an exclusive version of the set includes Brooks’ remake of his longtime signature song, “Friends in Low Places.” George Strait, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban and Florida Georgia Line join him on vocals.

“It was fun to get to crack open the archives again,” Brooks said. “You get to relive all that stuff again, you get to re-sing it, and since I have played that opening lick for 20 years, I wanted to be the guy that played it on the remake, so that’s me playing the opening. And then to hear Strait — my idol — sing, ‘I got friends in low places’! It was originally written for him, so it was cool after all these years to get it to the guy that they wrote it for.”

After a quarter-century of stardom — he was not even 30 when inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1990 — Brooks is refreshingly down to earth.

His 10-disc set sells for $30 at Target. That makes it ineligible to chart on Billboard magazine’s Billboard 200 album chart, because the magazine considers the price per disc to be too low. Brooks says frankly that the fans come first.

“I don’t know of any artist that’s said, ‘Oh, I want to be on your chart so much, I’ll charge the people more,’” he said.

His identification with fans who might have to cover family expenses and other costs of living applies to his concert sales as well. Not only in Honolulu, but across the country, Brooks has held ticket prices under $75 and added concerts to meet demand.

“It’s hard to go to a concert, and as an artist I know that. Nobody ever comes by theirselves — so there you go, double the ticket price, and if you don’t want to bring the kids, there’s the baby sitter, and you’re probably going to go out to dinner,” he said.

“I can’t tell you how thankful I am that people are showing up.”