Being a couple in country music isn’t easy. The challenges of travel, the rigors of a successful career, not to mention being famous, can wreak havoc on even the strongest relationships. But some manage to withstand the difficulties, including these four couples, whose marriages have stood the test of time.
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George and Norma Strait
George Strait met his now-wife, Norma Strait, when he was 19 years old, and she was just 17. Smitten from the beginning, the couple eloped in Mexico before Strait enlisted in the Army. On December 4, the couple will celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary.
In 2021, Strait performed a show on their 50th wedding anniversary. He dedicated “I Cross My Heart” to her during his concert.
“So I was 19 years old. And I knew this girl, Norma,” Strait said during the show. “She was 17, really hot.”
Alan and Denise Jackson
Alan Jackson married his wife, Denise Jackson, on December 15, 1979, long before he had any success in country music. In fact, it is Denise Jackson who helped him get a record deal, after she asked Glen Campbell for advice, while he was on one of her flights.
Alan Jackson and Denise Jackson did split up for a while, something she touches on in her book, It’s All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life. Fortunately, the two found their way back to each other.
Jackson celebrates their love story in his hit single, “Remember When“.
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill got married on October 6, 1996, after falling in love on the road. Hill was serving as the opening act on McGraw’s Spontaneous Combustion Tour.
McGraw and Hill have three daughters, now grown. It is Hill who McGraw credits with saving his life and helping him overcome his addiction to alcohol.
“I remember a moment when I was getting out of bed and going to the liquor cabinet and taking a big shot at 8:00 in the morning and thinking, I have to wake the kids up,” he tells Esquire. “I went straight to my wife and said, ‘This is where I’m at.’ I was scared. She just grabbed me and hugged me and changed my life.”
Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley have been married since March 15, 2003. In a strange twist of fate, Paisley had taken his girlfriend to see Father Of The Bride, starring Paisley’s future wife, although he didn’t know it at the time. When the sequel came out, Paisley and his girlfriend broke up, but when the sequel came out, Paisley returned to the theater, hoping she might also be there.
She was not. But when Paisley needed to cast someone for his “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)”, he reached out to The Father Of The Bride actress. By the time they actually filmed the video, the two had already begun dating.
“We both have very healthy senses of humor,” Paisley tells The Boot of the secret to their success as a couple. “Anything I take myself too seriously on, she will gladly cut me down to size on and destroy all pre-conceived notions that I’m cool in any way. You’ve got to have similar outlooks and really healthy senses of humor.”
Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images
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