Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are a country music power couple known for their musical collaborations and shared passion for giving back. During a Monday morning (November 20) press conference, Brooks became emotional while reflecting on his friendship with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
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“It’s tough. President [Jimmy] Carter calls Ms. Yearwood his second favorite Georgia peach,” Brooks told reporters. “All I can think about right now is, when you think about President Carter, you don’t say one without the other.”
Carter died peacefully at her Georgia home on Sunday (November 19), shortly after entering hospice care. She was 96.
For decades, she and former President Jimmy Carter worked closely with the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity. They actively volunteered together, hammering nails and cutting boards that would become housing for those in need.
Brooks and Yearwood are also longtime supporters of Habitat for Humanity, which led them to forge a close and lasting friendship with the Carters. But according to Brooks, the bond between Rosalynn and Trisha was especially strong.
“They were inseparable,” explained Brooks. “Miss Yearwood called her ‘quiet warrior.’ If you ever got to hang around her, President Carter always steals the show, and then when it comes time for her to speak, she’ll walk to the mic. What she says is very quiet but yet very powerful.”
“She taught us all that the lion doesn’t have to roar,” he added. “The statement doesn’t have to be more than a few words to get your point across. She was great at that, and everyone loved her for that.”
[RELATED: 3 Music Moments That Turned Jimmy Carter Into the “Rock and Roll President”]
The country star’s comments came during an event inside his soon-to-be-open Friends In Low Places Bar & Grill in downtown Nashville. Brooks said he hopes to create a “welcoming” and “inclusive” space for music fans and a stage for the next generation of artists.
Throughout his career, Brooks has been vocal about his hope for a world one day united by understanding and love. That dream for the future is something that Rosalynn Carter also actively worked to help create, leaving behind a legacy we can all learn from.
“A light has gone out that shines on how we should treat each other,” Brooks said of her passing. “But if we all pick that light up, maybe that light can grow instead of disappear.”
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