Love in the limelight! Country music’s hottest couples arrived hand in hand at the 2023 ACM Awards on Thursday, May 11.
Cohost Garth Brooks was accompanied by his wife, Trisha Yearwood, to the Frisco, Texas, event on Thursday — and their chemistry couldn’t be denied. Brooks, 61, kept it simple in a black tuxedo and matching cowboy hat while Yearwood, 58, sizzled in a sexy cheetah-printed red dress.
Brooks, who ran the awards show alongside Dolly Parton, wasn’t the only country crooner who brought his muse to the ACMs. Former Florida Georgia Line crooner Brian Kelley and his wife, Brittney Cole, were photographed sharing a sweet moment — and wearing matching blue ensembles — on the red carpet before going into the Ford Center at The Star.
Newly engaged crooner Cole Swindell held on tight to his fiancée, Courtney Little, just days after he announced on Monday, May 8, that he popped the question. The twosome held up Little’s engagement bling for the cameras on Thursday before going into the stadium.
Ahead of one of country music’s biggest nights, Brooks exclusively told Us Weekly how Yearwood, whom he married in 2005, has helped him evolve and think outside the box.
“We’re coming up on 14 years of marriage so we’re kind of in that stage where we have discussions that are intense, a little more than usual,” the “Friends in Low Places” crooner said in September 2019.
He noted that the couple’s disagreements often lead to him being more open to another person’s viewpoint.
“I think how she inspires me is she thinks differently than me,” Brooks told Us at the time. “And so it forces you out of just what you think you know, into what don’t you know, and to look over in there.”
The “How Do I Live” songstress, for her part, exclusively told Us in April 2021 that her spouse is still “perfect” after more than 30 years of knowing each other.
“He really is at the end of the day, even when I’m mad at him, he listens. Even when I think he’s not listening to me, he is,” the Trisha’s Southern Kitchen star gushed. “And he’s kind. He’s very generous and he’s very thoughtful.”
The pair first met in 1988 and three years later they worked together on “Like We Never Had a Broken Heart” off Yearwood’s debut album.
It wasn’t until their respective marriages came to an end that the duo’s relationship turned romantic. They made their debut as a couple in 2002 at the 33rd Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards Induction in New York City.
Brooks shares daughters Taylor, 30, August, 29, and Allie, 26, with ex-wife Sandy Mahl, whom he split from in 2001. Yearwood, meanwhile, was married to Christopher Latham from 1986 to 1991 and Robert Reynolds from 1994 to 1999.
Scroll down to see which of your favorite country couples attended the ACM Awards:
