Country Love: How These 12 Popular Country Music Couples Met
Published on November 12, 2015.Fans of country music know the genre has the sweetest love songs and the most adorable lyrics about falling in love and that is because the country music world has a lot of really sweet love stories. As is the case with many celebrities, fans want to know how couples ended up together and how they stay together through fame. The more we see them walk the red carpet together, perform together, star in each other’s music videos and of course write songs inspired by their significant other, we want to know more about them. We love how much these country music couples are in love. Check out how it all began with these 12 country music love stories.
12. Eric Church and Katherine Blasingame
Eric Church and his wife Katherine Blasingame were married on January 8, 2008 and have been going strong ever since. It all began through work of course. Katherine was a music publisher and was actually in the business before him and they met through their jobs. “She was trying to hook me up to write with one of her writers that she represented, that was how we met. It’s great now, because being a publisher and being somebody in the industry, I can bounce songs off of her, and she has the knowledge, you know, to be kind of that sounding board of what I should cut and what I shouldn’t cut. So, she’s one of those in the inner circle that I run a lot of stuff by,” Church told Taste of Country. The two also share two sons, Boone McCoy, 4, and Tennessee Hawkins “Hawk,” 10 months.
Photo by Picture Perfect / Rex Features11. Kimberly Perry and J.P. Arencibia
Kimberly Perry of the Band Perry landed herself a hot athlete in MLB player J.P. Arencibia, but it was Arencibia who made it all happen. The two first met in February 2012 at the Florida Strawberry Festival after Arencibia used his connections to set up a meeting backstage at the festival after he had seen the video for “I Die Young” and Perry caught his eye. The pair dated in secret from February 2012 all the way to October 2013 when he proposed. The two were married on June 12, 2014, and it really isn’t that surprising she ended up with a baseball player as her uncle is the noted baseball author and journalist Dayn Perry. “We are such a tight-knit group of Perrys, both in business and personally, so it takes exactly the right person to walk into that world and hold his own. He definitely is a guy that walks that line perfectly. This is that one I’ve waited for,” Perry said once she went public with her now husband.
Source: Taste of Country10. Dierks Bentley and Cassidy Black
Fans know that Dierks Bentley has been a happily married man for a long time, but many don’t know just how long he has been in love with his wife Cassidy Black. The two first met back in the eighth grade at Ingleside Middle School in Phoenix, Arizona, but Bentley said he was “too immature” and “not cool enough” for his future wife at that time. The pair finally began dating in high school but, once again, it wasn’t meant to be just yet as Bentley ended up moving to Nashville for his music career and Black went to work in San Francisco. Bentley didn’t want to let her go so easily though and constantly sent her “love letters.” “That’s why I married her! I’d get blackmailed with those letters!” he joked. Eventually Black showed up at one of his Las Vegas shows and have been together ever since. The two were engaged in December 2005 and that very day eloped to Mexico for their wedding.
Photo by Jim Smeal9. Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Unlike Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, country singer Brad Paisley had no common thread to get him into the circle of actress Kimberly Williams, who he was interested in ever since going to see her 1991 film, Father of the Bride. He then went to the theatre to see her again in the 1995 sequel and he said, after both movies he thought, “She seems like a great girl, smart and funny and all those things that are so hard to find.” After 10 years, he finally got his chance when he cast her in the music video for his song “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)” and, while he was in love right away, it took him awhile to snag the pretty actress. “He stalked me. That’s the long and short of it,” Williams said. “He says it was love at first sight for him, and for me it was more like love at first month or two.” It worked and the two dated for a few months before marrying on March 15, 2003.
Photo by REX8. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have been country music’s sweethearts since 1996 and have been going strong for nearly twenty years. It all began back in 1996 though when McGraw was a huge star and Faith Hill was just on the verge of becoming a star herself. That year Hill was an opening act on McGraw’s tour, but she was engaged to someone else at the time. “I wasn’t about to let Tim slip through my hands,” she said. Faith then broke off her engagement and started a whirlwind romance that had them falling in love and getting married that same year in October. To many, the start of the relationship seemed to indicate it wouldn’t last because they barely knew each other, but they are going stronger than ever and have three daughters together.
Photo by Erik Pendzich/REX Shutterstock7. Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins
Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren Gregory were told they were too young to marry when they tied the knot on Oct. 12, 2012 at 22 years old, but the moment was a long time coming. The “Die a Happy Man” singer first met his wife way back in the first grade. Rhett, whose real last name is Akins, admitted that they knew each other young, but didn’t date until they were around 16, but it didn’t work and they broke up after six months. “I don’t think she really noticed me ’til we were 16. When I heard she had ended her other relationship, I moved in for the kill. We kissed, and that was it.” Even though a lot of people told them they were too young to get married three years ago, it was Luke Bryan who set Rhett straight, according to Thomas’s father. “Everybody told him no, this not what he should do…except Luke [Bryan]. He called Luke three or four times, and Luke was like, ‘Buddy, if you’re in love and you want to get married then do it.'” Since then, Lauren has appeared in a few of her husband’s music videos and has set rules including no girls on his tour bus so that she can trust in knowing what he says is “going on on the road is really what’s going on on the road.”
Photo by Jim Smeal6. Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman
Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman seem like an unlikely couple, considering while he is busy dominating in the country music industry, she is one of the most sought after and respected actresses in Hollywood. Following her marriage from Tom Cruise, it was assumed Kidman would date some other lucky actor, but instead she found love with Urban after their Australian roots brought them together. The two met in January 2005 at the G’Day L.A. event in Hollywood honoring Australians. They began dating six months later and only a year after that they were married on June 25, 2006. “I don’t even know if she’s changed my life; she’s given me a life,” Urban told The Boot of his beautiful wife. “There’s seemingly no relevance to my previous life before meeting her. I have such deep love and gratitude for everything she’s done for me.”
(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)5. Hillary Scott and Chris Tyrell
Lady Antebellum’s Hilary Scott and the band’s drummer Chris Tyrell have had quite the love story that has resulted in them not only being happily married but performing in the same band. The two first met back in college, but nothing happened until years later when Lady Antebellum and Tyrell’s then band Love and Theft were the opening acts for Tim McGraw’s Southern Voice tour in 2010. That year he began filling as Lady A’s drummer and, by April 2011 engagement, rumors were already swirling, but the engagement didn’t happen until a few months later over the Fourth of July weekend. They married in a super secret wedding in January 2012 because they just couldn’t wait any longer and, in July, 2013 welcomed their first child, a daughter name Eisele.
Source: Zimbio4. Brantley Gilbert and Amber Cochran
It is no wonder so many country artists sing about heartbreak, as many of their stories include losing “the one” only to come back to them years later, such as the case for Brantley Gilbert and his wife Amber Cochran. Gilbert was on the verge of marrying fellow country singer and actress Jana Kramer when the two called off their engagement after eight months engaged and just over a year together. Just over a year later, Gilbert announced he was engaged and it turns out she was someone from his past. Brantley and Amber met in the early 2000s and he describes her as “the one who almost got away […] You’ll hear her in most of my songs.” Although they knew each other for ten years, they lost contact for five because as he says, “I was going through some stuff and acting like an idiot,” which included a heavy drinking problem, which Cochran refused to be a part of. After Gilbert got sober, he and Cochran reconnected and were married on June 28, 2015.
Photo by Jim Smeal3. Jana Kramer and Mike Caussin
While it seemed like Brantley Gilbert got over his relationship with Jana Kramer pretty quickly, the same could be said for her. The country singer and actress dated Scott Eastwood briefly following her split from Gilbert, but she met the one with NFL player Mike Caussin. The two had a whirlwind romance and it all began in an unusual way as the two met over Twitter. “The best story from social media has been meeting my fiance,” she told Billboard. “We met on Twitter. It’s the new Match.com, I guess.” She was right as the two became engaged in December 2014 on her 31st birthday after only four months of dating. They were quickly married as it seemed she raced Gilbert to the aisle, marrying Caussin on May 22, 2015. The two are currently expecting their first child together, a baby girl.
(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)2. Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher
Mike Fisher had his work cut out for him to land one of the hottest ladies in country music when Carrie Underwood caught his eye. The NHL player happened to be friends with Underwood’s bassist Mark Childers who suggested the match to Underwood, who initially thought, “I mean, can I make dating more difficult? Let’s get a hockey guy who lives in another country. Awesome.” After a little while, Underwood did agree to meet the then Ottawa Senators player at a meet and greet before one of her concerts in 2008. As to be expected it was difficult for the two to date with her travelling and performing and with him being based in Canada, so they ended up speaking on the phone for three months before they could even meet up again in person. Their first real date happened on New Year’s Eve of that year. “That was good for us,” Underwood said. “Our first real date was on New Year’s Eve, and our first kiss was when the ball dropped.” The two became engaged in December 2009, and were married on July 10, 2010.
Press Association1. Luke Bryan and Caroline Boyer
Like a lot of other famous country couples, Luke Bryan and Caroline Boyer met before the fame and fortune became a huge part of their relationship. Luke and Caroline were both students at Georgia Southern University in the early 2000s when the freshmen beauty caught the eye of the senior, Bryan. In classic Luke Bryan form, the two met at a bar called Dingus Magees, and Bryan says he knew right away she was the one. “It took me eight seconds to figure it out, and it took her about eight years to figure it out. I had to drink a lot before I could go talk to her, but I did. Somehow I managed to ease over there and somewhat be charming. It was one of those situations for me, it was like, ‘Who is that, and how do I go talk to her? And, yep, I’m going to marry that girl.’” Caroline has spoken out about first dating Bryan saying, “he was always a gentleman,” but she had to make the first move. “I kissed him first! He was always scared of making a girl feel uncomfortable, he wouldn’t cross a line.”
(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)