Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood: Why Their Love Lasts
Country superstars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have been married for eighteen years. They just opened a new bar in downtown Nashville, dubbed “Friend In Low Places.”
Prime Video TV Show
The couple are even part of a new docuseries on Amazon Prime Video named after their new bar. The show’s third episode premieres on Prime Video tonight (3/21).
Garth Gushes On His Wife
When they opened the bar a few weeks ago (3/7), I spoke with each of them separately and asked how they keep their marriage strong. Garth gushed as he looked at Trisha, standing about five feet away and out of earshot, “I think her and anybody’s a great combo, I really do. So, I just feel lucky to be there with her.”
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He continued, “What I love about it is what I try to teach my girls: be yourself, be independent, but also be as strong as you are. Some of the most strength you’re gonna have to show is the ability to bend. The ability to flex, the ability to take that pause and think, ‘What is this guy really saying,’ instead of just jumping, and we do that to each other. So, I think the respect is there.”
Years In The Making
Brooks said the relationship was years in the making, “One of the big things was, cause we’ve known each other since ’87, we were friends for thirteen years before we even dated. We toured together, which means you’re way too comfortable with each other, so we told ourselves s— on each other that no married couple would ever say. So, we know everything about each other.”
He concluded, “With that, I think you just realize, walls and all, that they’re gonna love you, and that’s very sweet and hard for me to accept.”
Trisha’s Thoughts
Minutes before I spoke to Brooks, I asked Trisha the same question. She told me it isn’t always just roses, “Well, when people go, ‘Marriage goals’ and ‘Relationship goals,’ I want to go, ‘You know, have your own goals; we’re regular people who don’t always get along.'”
Yearwood adds, “If people see that we make each other the priority and we really respect and love each other, then I think if people take that from our marriage, then great.”
Five Garth Brooks Songs That Made Him An Icon
"Callin' Baton Rouge" (1994)
Chris Weeks/Liaison/Getty Images
Garth was not the first artist to record it. In an album liner notes, he said, “I have always been a fan of ‘Baton Rouge.’ I was, still am and always will be a fan of the members of New Grass Revival, four guys well ahead of their time (even if they came out thirty years from now). ‘Baton Rouge’ was a single for them about the time my first album was released.”He continued, “This song did not even break the top thirty, and I believe it did not get a fair shot. When we recorded it, it seemed only natural to bring in the guys from New Grass Revival – Pat Flynn, Bela Fleck, John Cowan, and Sam Bush, teamed with Jerry Douglas. This was the first time the New Grass Revival had been together since their breakup over a year prior to the recording of this song. It was a very good day and an extremely proud moment, and I think this is reflected in the cut itself.”
"The Thunder Rolls" (1991)
Adele Starr/Getty ImagesGarth co-wrote this dark number-one song. He said of the song, “There is no doubt that the toughest song in the GB catalog has to be ‘The Thunder Rolls.’ This song came out fighting the day it was released. It was originally cut by Tanya Tucker in 1988 but was never put on an album. It came back to us in time for No Fences. My hat’s off to Pat Alger, a great writer and friend, and to music itself because only music could withstand what this song has gone through.”
The lyrics include, “The thunder rolls / And the lightnin’ strikes / Another love grows cold / On a sleepless night / As the storm blows on / Out of control / Deep in her heart / The thunder rolls.”
"If Tomorrow Never Comes" (1989)
Frederick M. Brown/Getty ImagesGarth’s second radio single and his first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. “If Tomorrow Never Comes” was named Favorite Country Single in the American Music Awards of 1991. Brooks noted that the song “will probably always be my signature song.” Garth also said that the song is about the love of a father to his daughter, not to his lover. He co-wrote the song with Kent Blazy.
"Friends In Low Places" (1990)
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesOne of the biggest songs in his career and the name of his new downtown Nashville bar. During a press conference when the bar opened, Garth said that when it came out and succeeded (four weeks at number-one) so much, nobody knew his name, but “everyone” knows “Friend In Low Places.” The song won both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association awards for 1990 Single of the Year.
"The Dance" (1990)
Stephen Chernin/Getty Images“The Dance” was the single released before “Friends in Low Places,” and also shot to number one on the country charts. In 1990, it was named both Song of the Year and Video of the Year by the Academy of Country Music. It was awarded the number 14 position in the CMT 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music broadcast in 2003. It also is in the number 5 position on the network’s The Greatest: 100 Greatest Music Videos special in 2004.
In 2001, after the death of Dale Earnhardt, Brooks was invited to the NASCAR Awards ceremony honoring Earnhardt to play the song as a tribute.
