Country singers muses and wives: then and now

Country music is all about love, heartbreak, extreme happiness, and extreme sorrow. This ability to so truthfully portray human emotions is one of the reasons Country music is one of the most emotional genres on the planet. Many of these songs, not only of happiness and love, but also of heartbreak and sorrow, were written about the women and men in these artists’ lives. Here are some of the great country singers, and the partners which caused them to sing so well.

Johnny and June seemed to be a match made in heaven. After divorcing his first wife, Cash was performing at the Grand Old Opry when he met June Carter of the Carter Family singing group, and it was immediately love at first site. Their courtship lasted 13 years, and during a live performance in London, Ontario, Cash proposed to June, who said yes! They then went on to have one child, the musically gifted John Carter Cash.

Despite Johnny’s tough demeanor, drug abuse problems, and constant touring, June Cash’s love for Johnny was never in any doubt, and the two remained married for 35 years. June would regularly have to steal Johnny’s drugs and flush them down the toilet and take him to rehab throughout the marriage, but still, they stayed together. Their marriage ended in 2003 when June died. Johnny was so heartbroken that he himself died four months later.

Narvel met Reba while he was a steel guitar player for her, and continued the relationship when he became the manager of her band. The two got married on a boat in Lake Tahoe in 1989, and Reba became the step-mother to Narvel’s three children who she became very close too. Reba became pregnant with her first and only child with Narvel immediately after the honeymoon, giving birth to her son Shelby a short time after.

Narvel and Reba ended up getting divorced after 26 years of marriage but still remain on good terms. Reba is still very close to her three stepchildren, with one of them – Brandon – married to superstar Kelly Clarkson. Reba is very happy with the marriage, saying that she is super excited that one of her best friends is going to be her daughter in law. Her son Shelby is a popular Indy car driver.

Glen Campbell had been married three times and already had three sons and two daughters by the time he met Kimberly Woolen who was working a Radio City Music Hall “Rockette”. The two fell in love and got married, having three children – two sons named Cal and Shannon, and a daughter named Ashley. Not a bad ending for a couple who were set up on a blind date back in 1982!

Campbell’s three children have sung with him in concert on various occasions. However, since being diagnosed with Alzheimers, his wife and children decided to move Glen into an assisted living facility, a move which drew a lot of criticism. While Campbell is no longer able to play a guitar or sing, his loving and faithful wife has stood by his side the entire time, ensuring that this country music legend receives the care that he needs.

Martina met her current husband John while she was touring. She was the woman on stage, while he was the sound engineer, working to support her behind the scenes. The two ended up falling in love, getting married in 1988. The couple ended up having three daughters, Delaney Katharine, Emma Justine, and Ava Rose Kathleen. Mcbride actually decided to tour less following the births of her daughters, saying that motherhood and being there for her family was more important than money.

Martina still tours, but it is very much a family affair. She is known for bringing her daughters along with her, and should you make it backstage to see her chief sound engineer, you would still see her husband John managing in the back. When they aren’t touring, the two are managers of a record label which include the likes of Brad Paisley, and have even had Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen record in their studio back home in Nashville, TN!

After having his first wife and mother of his first child divorce him, Mac Davis re-married an 18 year old girl who then was subsequently stolen by Glen Campbell. It took a little while longer before Davis finally found his soulmate in the form of a nurse 12 years younger than him named Lise Kristen Gerard. The former Elvis songwriter and part time actor had two children with this third wife – sons Noah Claire and Cody Luke.

Mac and his wife Lise are still going strong, making numerous award show appearances together, and still looking as happy as they did on they day they got married. Davis spends his time with his family at their mansion in Bel Air and skiing in their vacation home in Lake Tahoe, along with giving the occasional interview about what it was like to work for “The King” Elvis Presley.

Jimmy Dean met his second wife Donna while the two were on stage of the show Nashville Now produced by the Nashville Network. The two were soon married in 1991, with Donna helping Jimmy to manage his sausage empire and write his biography. The two enjoyed married life on the Dean estate located south of Richmond, Va, attending charity events and enjoying Jimmy’s twilight years.

Following Jimmy’s death in 2010, Donna continued recording music. Her life changed however when she went to her 40th high school reunion and re-kindled an old flame with her high school sweetheart. The two subsequently began dating, with Donna getting re-married in 2013 to Jayson Franklin Stevens who formerly worked construction. Jimmy is undoubtedly smiling down on them from above, most likely eating one of his famous sausages.

Merle Haggard was married five times and had six children with them. After marrying then divorcing singer-songwriter and wife number two Bonnie Owens, Haggard went on to fall in love with and marry country music star Leona Williams. One of her top charting songs was actually a duet with Merle, called The Bull and the Beaver. Interestingly though, Bonnie Owens was maid of honor for Haggard and Williams’s wedding!

Merle and Leona ended up divorcing after five years of what was deemed a harsh and stormy marriage. The two continued as a songwriting team, with Williams’s single “We’re Strangers Again” really marking the downwards spiral of her short lived marriage with Haggard. It’s crazy to think that while these two split up and went their separate ways, ex-wife Bonnie was always in the picture, being a backup singer for Merle until her death in 2006!

When George Jones and Tammy Wynette got married, it was neither of their first times, with George having two previous marriages and Tammy having come out of her third. They became a country music power couple, following in the footsteps of contemporaries Johnny Cash and June Carter. Tammy had three children by the time she married George, with George legally adopting all three of them. The couple then had a child of their own – Tamala Georgette Jones.

This marriage was never meant to be, and the couple divorced six years later, with Tammy getting remarried twice and George going on to be remarried one more time. George became an alcoholic but was able to pull it together by the time his last marriage came around. Meanwhile, Tammy would go one to marry a man for a month and a half before divorcing him, then marry her fifth and final man in 1978.

Ronnie Milsap, blind from birth, was studying at Young Harris College in Georgia when he began performing with a local R&B band in the area. It was there at a dinner party that Milsap ended up meeting a woman named Joyce at a dinner party, and the two immediately fell in love and became inseparable in 1964. Ronnie says that it was “love at first sounds,” and the two married a little over a year later in 1965.

Ronnie and Joyce Milsap have defied the odds and are still together to this day. In fact, Ronnie on multiple occasions invited Joyce to sing with him on records. She never performed with him however, due to her not enjoying being in the spotlight. As Ronnie said during a recent interview, “the only thing that really counts, that really matters, is love.” The two went on his last ever tour in 2014, and they seem as insparable as on they day that they met.

Willie Nelson married third wife Connie Koepke after he moved to a ranch in Bandera, Texas in 1972 before his divorce from his second wife, Shirley Collie, was final. Connie a factory worker when Nelson met her while he was performing at a club in Houston, Texas and he happened to see while he was on stage. He called her the next time he was in Houston, and the two fell in love. They ended up having two daughters together, Paula Carlene and Amy Lee.

This fairytale style meet wasn’t meant to last, with the singer and his by that time third wife Connie getting a divorce in 1988, 17 years after they first got married. He ended up meeting a woman named Annie D’Angelo and married her in 1991, and has since had two sons – Lukas Autry and Jacob Micah. Nelson seems to have come a long way since his first marriage, where his then wife sewed him up in a bedsheet and beat him with a broomstick!

Ray Price was married and had a child named Cliff before he divorced her and married the love of his life Janie. The two married in 1970, near the height of Price’s half century long career. Using her as inspiration, Price went on to create amazing music, and go on to lay the foundations of country music as we know them to today.

Ray remained faithfully married to his wife until he died of pancreatic cancer in 2013. The last year of his life, Ray decided to go out and create one last album titled “Beauty is…” which he dedicated to Janie where he sang about the day to day occurrences of their married life. Ray Price sadly died of pancreatic cancer after 43 years of marriage, changing both Janie’s life and country music as a genre.

Hank Williams Junior was married twice and had three kids (including Hank Williams III) before he met his current wife, model Mary Jane Thomas. The two were seeing hearts, and after they got married in 1990, they had two kids, a daughter named Katharine Diane and a son named Samuel. Meanwhile, Hank Williams Jr. was working as a commentator for Monday Night Football.

Hank Williams Jr. had his own problems for publicly expressing his views on US President Barack Obama. However, Williams Jr. Was also having marital problems, separating from his wife in 2007 over her drug and alcohol addiction. However, she has since gotten better, and the couple have reportedly reconciled with Mary Jane having gone to rehab to get over her addiction problems, and coming back to each other in 2011.

Waylon Jennings was married three times before he met a recently divorced struggling songwriting mother named Miriam Johnson. Johnson and Jennings got married a year after she divorced her first husband, and with Jennings, changed her name to Jessi Colter – the name of her great grandfather. The two went on to have a baby boy named Waylon Albright Jennings. Overall, Waylon was the father, adopted father or stepfather to seven children.

Waylon and Jenni almost split up in the 1980’s due to Waylon’s addiction to cocaine, meth, alcohol, and other drugs. However, the couple pulled through, Waylon sobered up, and he even went back to high school to get his GED to prove how serious he was about trying to turn his life around. However, his early days of hard partying caught up with him, and he died while on tour outside of Mesa, Arizona.

Coming off of a bitter custody battle for his four children from his previous marriage, Dean Martin ended up meeting former Orange Bowl Queen Jeanne Biegger. The couple married in 1949, a week after the divorce from his first wife was finalized. They ended up having three children – Ricci Dean, Dean Paul Martin, and Gina Martin. Dean and Ricci ended up becoming musicians, and Dean the son even became a fighter pilot for the US Air Force!

It wasn’t happily ever after for Dean and Jeanne. The couple ended up divorcing 1973, and tragedy would continue to follow the family. The younger Dean Martin would end up dying when his US Air Force F-4 Phantom flew into a heavy snowstorm and crashed into a mountain, killing him. Meanwhile, Ricci Martin ended up being found dead in his home in Utah, and no one knows why.

Mel Tillis met his first wife Doris when he was a young up and coming country music star. The two were married, and lived happily together for years, having several children including one Pam Tillis. As Mel’s fame continued to rise, with him writing several top ten country hits, so did his love of family. However, not all would be happily ever after.

After 20 years of marriage, Mel and Doris decided to end their marriage and file for a divorce. The two left in a very dignified manner, and the two remained on good terms the rest of their lives. Mel went on to marry another woman, while Doris never re-married. Their daughter Pam meanwhile ended up becoming a nationally renowned singer-songwriter, going through a string of marriages and divorces herself.

George and Norma had known each other for years, having been friends in the same small town high school. According to George, he didn’t really notice Norma at first, but then decided to ask her out on a date. He didn’t call her back for weeks, but realized that if he didn’t act fast, he could lose her forever. He did, and soon enough, in 1971, these two high school sweethearts were married.

Married for over 45 years, this power couple is still going strong. The couple had a boy named George Strait, Jr., who they affectionately call Bubba. Bubba is now a rodeo rider. They also had a daughter named Jenifer, however she died in a car crash back in 1986. The Straits decided to set up a foundation to help children in his native San Antonio, Texas. A big heart for a big guy!

Country music an pop artist Kenny Rogers has so far been married five times, but his most famous wife is quite possibly Marianne Gordon. The former actress and country music star got married in 1977, and had a son together named Christopher Cody Rogers in 1982. This was Gordon’s second marriage and Kenny’s fourth. Kenny actually came into the marriage with two children with two different women!

The marriage was not meant to last, and in 1993 the two divorced. The settlement between the two ended up being one of the largest in history, costing Rogers $60 million (which is over $100 million in today’s money!). Rogers went on to marry his fifth and final wife Wanda in 1997, with whom he has since had two more children. Kenny is now sitting back and enjoying his retirement, but probably wishing he had that extra $100 million!

Former Hootie and the Blowfish and current country music star Darius Rucker has been doing pretty well in his love life, getting married to wife Beth Leonard in 2000. The two met while beth was an events organizer and booking agent for VH1. Regarding their first meeting, Beth says that she thought Darius was nice and sincere, while Rucker himself thought that she didn’t like him. Talk about mixed signals!

Darius Rucker has been doing pretty well in his love life after getting married to wife Beth Leonard in 2000. Beth even inspired his solo hit “Alright.” Although he has a daughter named Carolyn Pearl Phillips with an ex-girlfriend, Rucker also has two kids with his wife Beth. He has since grown his solo career, performing sold out shows to fans all over the country, and became the first black man to score a top country song since Charley Price in 1983!

Garth Brooks met his first wife Sandy in possibly the most interesting fashion on this list; when Garth was a freshman at the Oklahoma State University, he was called into the women’s restroom to break up a fight between two women. It turns out that Sandy had tried to punch a woman, missed, and got her fist stuck in a wall. Well, when they say love hits, it really does hit hard!

After being married for 15 years and having three daughters named Taylor, August, and Allie, Garth and Sandy decided to split up, with Garth saying he wasn’t a very good husband and didn’t call often enough. Since then, Garth has re-married, and Sandy works at a wildlife rehabilitation center which helps get injured animals back to being healthy enough to be released into the wild. The two are also now grandparents, as August gave birth in July 2013.

Clint Black was introduced to Lisa Hartman after one of his shows in Houston on New Years Eve 1990, and immediately fell in love with her. They would meet up several more times and talk constantly while Clint was touring. They tied the not a mere 10 months after meeting on Clint’s ranch in the middle of Texas in October of 1990.

Lisa and Clint have been together for the past 27 years, and are still madly in love. In fact, Clint credits Lisa for his superstar country success, and doesn’t release anything without her approval.

Alan met his wife Denise when hey were still kids, and dated throughout high school until their marriage in 1979 at their hometown church in Newnan, GA. She even helped jumpstart his career by introducing him to Glen Campbell!

The couple has been married for 36 years and have had three daughters together; Mattie, Alexandra, and Dani. Although the couple separated for a few months due to Alan’s infidelity, they got back together and have become stronger than ever.

When Randy was a down on his luck singer at a club in North Carolina, Elizabeth asked her then husband and owner of the club to let the musician stay with them. When the husband got jealous and said either Randy gets kicked out or she leaves, she left with Randy.

Elizabeth divorced from Randy after 19 years of marriage and building Randy’s career after she caught him red handed having sex with another, married woman. It seems that she was what was keeping his career in tact, as he fell apart – both financially and physically – very soon after.

Singers Lorrie Morgan and Keith Whitely were married in 1986 and had several kids together. However, he died tragically from alcohol poisoning, leaving Lorrie to fend for herself and her kids for a large period of time.

Lorrie has since remarried and divorced four more times, and has become known for having a turbulent and hard personal life. She also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. However, with her most recent marriage to a Tennessee businessman, perhaps her luck has changed.

No one had really heard of Lyle Lovett until he eloped with Julia Roberts and married her in the small town of Marion, IN in 1993. They had only met about a month earlier while on the set of a production called “The Player.”

This flash in the pan love was not meant to be, with the couple divorcing after only two years together due to career demands and irreconcilable differences. However, they are still friends to this day, despite going on and marrying other people.

After being divorced twice, Travis didn’t think he would find love again and planned to sit back to become a bachelor extraordinaire. However, that all changed when he met and fell in love with a woman named Theresa Nelson.

The two ended up getting married in 1997 after Travis, not being able to think about anyone or anything else while on tour that summer, decided to pop the question to her. They now have three kids, sons Tristan James, and Tarian Nathaniel, and daughter Tyler Reese.

Brad Paisley was watching “Father of the Bride” when he developed a crush on actress Kimberly Williams. When he made the music video for his single “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song),” Paisley was determined to have her in the video. He got her, and they hit it off.

The two never stopped talking, and maintained a cross country, long distance relationship. They eventually got married after a nine-month-long engagement, and now have two sons – William Huckleberry Paisley and Jasper Paisley.

After being shot in the chest by his ex-wife and subsequently divorcing her, Trace Adkins started dating his former publicity manager Rhonda Forlaw, eventually marrying her in 1997, giving birth to three daughters – Brianna, Trinity, and Mckenzie.

The two began filing for divorce in early 2014 after nearly two decades of marriage, primarily due to his alcoholism and rumors that he was sleeping around with other women. The current center of the fight for divorce is how Adkins plans to split his $20 million fortune with Rhonda.

Toby Keith met Tricia at a nightclub in Oklahoma in 1981, danced with her, and immediately knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He didn’t wait long and three years later in 1983, Keith asked Tricia to marry him.

Keith ended up adopting Tricia’s daughter, and they had two more children of their own. Now married for over 30 years, Keith is now a grandfather. Toby worked in the oilfields of Oklahoma until that dried up, and took to singing, a choice Tricia supported. Good thing too, as Toby is now worth almost a billion dollars!

Country music legend John Denver was married once before to a woman named Anne Martell, with whom he adopted two children, one of whom Denver would go on to write a song about. Denver called those two kids his pride and joy. However, the stress of his success took a toll on him and he cut his bed with a chainsaw before divorcing his first wife. He then met and married Australian actress and beauty Cassandra Delaney. However, after having daughter Jesse Belle., the two split up and divorced.

John Denver ended up dying in a plane crash as he was driving an experimental plane without a valid pilot’s license. His first wife Anne continues to live in Aspen, which must have been awkward, as the small town is where John lived with his second wife Cassandra. Regarding John’s divorce from Cassandra, John said “she managed to make a fool of me from one end of the valley to the other.”

Joe Don and Tiffany Fallon met when this former Miss Georgia beauty queen won the Playboy Playmate of the year award for 2005. The full nude picture which won her the prize was taken by Joe Don, and they got married in 2006.

Tiffany no longer poses nude, especially after her and the Rascal Flats star had three children together – a son named Jagger Donovan Rooney, and two daughters named Raquel Blue Rooney and Devon Olivia Rooney.

Jake Owen proposed to his first wife model Lacey Buchanan while he was on stage at a concert right after he finished performing the song Don’t Think I Can’t Love You in his hometown of Vero Beach, FL. And can you believe it, he didn’t have a ring!

The two gave birth to a girl named Olive Pearl a year after their marriage. However, the two decided to call it quits, and divorced in 2015 after being married for three years.

Katherine was a music publisher who would go to various artists and ask that they perform songs written by various songwriters. She had a meeting with Eric Church one day, and sparks flew. The two were married in 2008.

The couple is still going strong, having given birth to two sons – Boone McCoy Church and Tennessee Hawkins “Hawk” Church. The couple are also organizers of The Chief Cares Fund which helps poor families in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Jason Aldean married his first wife and former high school sweetheart Jessica Ussery back in 2001. The two ended up having two children together – daughters Kendyl and Keeley.

Aldean and Ussery were happily married until Jason began “acting inappropriately” with American Idol contestant Brittany Kerr. A few months after the admission, Aldean ended up divorcing Ussery, and quickly got engaged to Kerr. They were married soon after.

Shania Twain met her husband Robert Lange after the producer heard Twain’s self-written album. They met at a fair in June 1993, and were married before the year was out. The couple had a son named Eja, but pronounced “Asia.”

Shania and Robert ended up getting divorced after it turned out that Lange was hooking up with Shania’s best friend Marie-Anne Thiébaud. The two women husband swapped, with Robert marrying Marie-Anne, and Shania marrying Marie-Anne’s ex-husband.

Gary Allen met his second wife model Danette Day after she attended a concert which he was headlining in Denver. Fresh off being named one of People’s Sexiest Men, the two took some time to hit it off, but Allen eventually wooed day, and the two were married in Aiken, South Carolina.

The two ended up getting divorced a mere six months after they got married. Allen went on to get married to another woman a short time later, but that woman ended up committing suicide in 2001.

Kix Brooks of famous country duo Brooks and Dunn met his wife Barbara while he was living in Maine where he was helping his sister in law with an ad agency. The two fell in love and ended up getting married in 1981.

Success hasn’t affected the couple’s’ marriage, and the two are still happily married over 30 years later! They have two kids – Molly and Eric. For their 25th anniversary, Kix got Barbara a horse!

Dolly Parton met Carl Dean outside a laundromat the very first day she moved to Nashville, and the two have been inseparable ever since. They wound up getting married in small, five-person ceremony two years after they met.

Dolly and Carl are still together, having celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016. While Dean and Parton have no kids to call their own, they helped raise all of Dolly’s younger siblings. Dolly herself is Miley Cyrus’s Godmother.

These two big names were at a relief event to benefit the survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami which killed over a half million people in dozens of different countries. They couldn’t get enough of each other, and things quickly became romantic.

Despite getting married with high hopes for their success the couple quickly fell apart, and the two decided to annul the marriage. The reason – the combination of intense media scrutiny and Chesney not knowing how to “be married.”

After Wanda Jackson finished dating Elvis Presley, she met and fell in love with an IBM programmer named Wendell Goodman with whom she ended up having two children in Oklahoma City.

Unfortunately, Wanda was considered to be “too sexy” for the 1960s, and people wouldn’t hire her to perform due to her “immoral dancing.” She and her husband started attending church more, and ultimately became born-again evangelicals.

Paul Jefferson and Lisa Brokop met when Jefferson produced some of Brokop’s work in 2004. The two soon fell in love, and after four years of dating, they announced that they were officially engaged. The marriage between the two lovebirds finally happened in 2008.

The Canadian country music singer and her American husband soon had a baby who they decided to name Ivy Jefferson. Brokop actually announced the pregnancy on stage while performing in Canada’s western provinces. In winter no less!

These two lovebirds met at a bar when they were studying at Georgia Southern University. As Luke began making it big in country (he makes $42.5 million a year!), he stayed with Caroline, and the two ended up marrying each other in 2006.

The couple now has two sons – Thomas “Bo” Boyer Bryan and Tatum “Tate” Christopher Bryan. Bryan’s sister and her husband both died tragically leaving behind one son Tildon. Tildon is now living and being raised by the Bryans.

After Garth divorced from first wife Sandy, he met Trisha, and the two simply hit it off. However, Trisha refused to begin dating Garth until he had finalized his divorce. Once finalized, the two had stars in their eyes, and they began dating.

Garth actually proposed to Trisha while on stage live during a show, and she immediately said yes. The two were engaged for five years before finally tying the knot. They were married in their home in Oklahoma in 2005.

Fresh off his divorce from his first wife and high-school sweetheart Kaynette Gern, Shelton was performing a duet with Miranda Lambert when he immediately began to fall in love with her on stage. This love would eventually lead him to marry her.

The couple sadly announced that they were splitting up from each other just three years after the marriage in 2015 after much speculation over whether or not the two were trying to have a child. Blake was already on to the next one a few months later when it was announced that he was dating Gwen Stefani.

Big Kenny of Big and Rich met his wife Christiev Carothers on the set of one of his music videos. Sparks flew, and he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Big Kenny adopted Christiev’s two children, and they had two more together. She now spends her time traveling the world volunteering, specifically in Darfur, Sudan and Haiti with her superstar husband in tow.

This “Weird Al Yankovic” of country music is more famous for his parodies than for his marriage to country music star Julie Reeves. She was undoubtedly taken by his humor and happy demeanor.

The marriage was not meant to last, and it fell apart a few years later. Julie was pregnant during the divorce and gave birth to a baby girl named Caitlyn Rose. Both Julie and Cledus have gone on to get married to other people.

Loretta was only 15 years old when she married the 21 year old moonshiner Oliver Lynn in the coal mining town of Butcher, KY. After Oliver bought Loretta her first guitar, she started singing, and quickly rose to prominence.

The two stayed together for nearly 50 years, having six children – four before the age of 20. Oliver passed away in 1996 due to complications from diabetes. Loretta lovingly took care of him up until the day that he died.

Bob Seger had a string of failed marriages, including a marriage which lasted, in his words, “one day short of a year,” along with another one which lasted over a decade. When he finally found Juanita, her waited nearly two years before asking for her hand.

The two have been happily married for over 25 years and have had two children together – Christopher Cole Seger and Samantha Char Seger. Having retired a few years ago, Seger is raising his children in a suburb of his native Detroit.

Josh was filming a music video for his song Only You when one of the actresses in the video caught his eye in 2005. He started talking to the actress and former model, and the two quickly fell for each other. A year later he popped the question.

Katherine immediately said yes and the two were married in 2006. The couple adopted their first child from South Korea in 2009 and named her Nancy Leigh. They adopted a second daughter Adalaide Marie Hope in 2012, and gave birth to their first biological son, Joshua Bishop Kelley Jr., in 2016!

Roy had been married and divorced twice by the time he met Barbara. He was performing at a venue in Leeds, UK when a beautiful 18 year old German girl caught his eye. Despite being nearly twice her age, she fell for him then and there.

The two were married until Roy’s death in 1988. The couple had two sons together – Roy Kelton and Alexander Orbi. Before Roy Sr. died, Barbara was actually the one managing Orbison’s career! Barbara passed away in 2011 on the 23rd anniversary of her husband’s death.

Country Star David Nail was at a bar in his hometown when one of his buddies was bugging him about a girl in a green dress. He saw her and started talking to her, crashed and. However, he didn’t let up, and the two got married in 2009.

The couple have been married for nearly ten years and gave birth to twins in 2015, a boy named Lawson Brent Nail and a girl named Lillian Catherine Nail. David is really happy to have Catherine by his side, helping him weather strong bouts of depression.

Billy Ray Cyrus was a starving artist living out of his car when he met Trish back in 1991. They fell in love, and the two got married in 1993, with Billy Ray adopting Tish’s two children, and having three more children with her, including Miley Cyrus.

The couple has had a very rocky relationship, becoming increasingly tumultuous over the past ten years. The two submitted divorce papers twice, but cancelled the proceedings both times. Hopefull, they will quickly get their marriage back on track!

Eric and Natalie met each other way back in 2006 when she immediately friend zoned him. The two remained friends for seven years before that friendship grew into something romantic. However, it would take another two years before Eric popped the question.

After knowing him for nearly a decade, Natalie obviously said yes, and the couple were married at a venue in the small town of Charlotte, TN, heading off to Italy to celebrate their honeymoon. The two are currently still going strong.

It was midnight on New Year’s Eve and Zac had just finished a performance at a country bar. His date had stood him up, and he knew he needed to kiss someone at the stroke of midnight. His eyes landed on Shelly, he kissed her, and he knew he wanted to marry her.

Nearly ten years later, the couple are still married and have had an astounding five children! They have four daughters named Justice, Lucy, Georgia, Joni, and a son who was born in 2014 named Alexander.

Toy, guitarist for the Marshall Tucker Band, met Abbie after coming back home from Vietnam. For some reason, despite only living a few streets away from each other, the two had never met! But once they did, they immediately fell for each other, marrying after only three months of dating!

The two stayed married up until Toy’s death in 1993. They had two girls named Cassady and Geneal Caldwell. Also, the song “AB’s Song” on the Marshall Tucker Band’s first ever album is dedicated to Abbie.

One of the halves of country music supergroup Montgomery Gentry, Troy Gentry, met a woman named Angie near the beginning of his career in music. The two fell in love, getting married in a destination wedding on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 1999.

Troy and Angie’s marriage is still going strong with the couple having a daughter, Kaylee, together. Angie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, prompting Troy to launch a non-profit which fights against the disease called the “check your headlights” campaign.

This couple are the spawn of two greats – Randy Montana’s father was singer-songwriting legend Billy Montana, and Montgomery Lee is the granddaughter of NASCAR legend Richard Petty. The two got married in a private ceremony in 1999.

The couple are still together to this day. Although Randy has sung on his own track before, he now mostly sticks to songwriting. Him and wife Montgomery Lee have two children – a daughter named Sullivan Mae Montana and a son named Gunnar West Montana.

After dating each other for several years, country music star Jeremy McComb finally worked up the courage to ask Kourtney Hansen to marry him, and she said yes! The couple was engaged in 2012, and finally got married in 2013.

The two are still together, with Jeremy still performing and writing music, while Kourtney continues to act. Hansen recently acted in the smash CMT hit series Nashville which is already in its fifth season!

Josh Turner met his wife Jennifer Ford while the two were busy studying at Belmont University in Tennessee, and the two immediately fell for each other. However, the two waited nearly half a decade, only getting married in 2003.

The two have since given birth to four children, all boys -Hampton, Colby, Marion, and Samuel. Jennifer always accompanies Josh when he’s on tour, and even sings background vocals on his songs!

Dierks met Cassidy way back when the two were in eighth grade. She was dating Dierks’ best friend at the time, but he stole her heart, and they dated on and off for years. Finally, Dierks decided he wanted to make it work, and in 2005 the couple got married.

The couple ended up having three children, two girls named Evie and Jordan as well as a son named Knox. However, the MVP’s of the family may just be their dogs, Jake and George. Jake even appeared in one of Bentley’s music videos!

Kid Rock (who had several country songs and hits) met model and Baywatch actress at a VH1 Aretha Franklin tribute concert in 2001, and the notorious bad boy and world famous playmate immediately hit it off. The two were reportedly engaged in 2002, but then broke it off.

The engagement breakoff may have been a ruse, as the two got married in a wedding which surprised everyone in 2006. The couple have since divorced, with different reasons coming out – from not being able to decide where to live to Anderson’s appearance in the Borat movie.

Charlene Tilton was acting in the Soap Opera “Dallas,” playing the role of a young Lucy Ewing when she caught country singer Johnny Lee Ham’s eye. The two wound up falling in love with each other, getting married in 1982.

Despite having a daughter together named Cherish Lee Dunn, the two broke off their marriage two years later. Both would go on to re-marry other people. Unfortunately, Tilton’s marriage would not last as her second husband died of a heart attack.

Luke Bryan met his wife Caroline Boyer when the two were studying at Southern Georgia University. They met while he was a senior and she was freshman. What is perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the two met at a campus bar called Dingus Magees. We wonder how Luke approached Caroline, as Caroline would not have been able to partake in bar activities at that time due to her being too young!

The two lovebirds kept in contact with one another well after Luke graduated from college, and they finally ended up getting married in December of 2006. They quickly decided to start a family, and about two years later, they brought their first child into the world – Thomas “Bo” Boyer Bryan. Their next child, a son, was then born two years after that in 2010, and the couple decided to name him Tatum “Tate” Christopher Bryan.

Tim McGraw was on tour with Faith Hill when the two fell in love with each other. However, it was fate which clearly brought them together. When they first met, Tim had just called off an engagement to another woman, while Faith was engaged to her longtime producer. However, the immense rigors of touring brought the two incredibly talented musicians closer together, causing them to fall in love and get married in the 1990’s.

The two have since been married for over 20 years, and have three children named Gracie Katherine, Maggie Elizabeth, and Audrey Caroline. The husband and wife also team up to help support charitable causes, having taken supplies to Gulfport, MS following Hurricane Katrina, and donating over $375,000 to victims of the bombing of the USS Cole by Al-Qaeda.