Country Music Icons Merle Haggard & George Jones Helped Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood Get Engaged
When country music star Garth Brooks decided to propose to fellow singer Trisha Yearwood, he knew he had to go all out. In his new book The Anthology Part IV: Going Home, Brooks details the steps he took to ensure that it was a proposal she would never forget. Around the same time, he was working on opening a nightclub with an opening night event featuring large bronze statues of some of the most iconic men in country music history.
He called the event “Legends in Bronze.” The statues included greats such as Merle Haggard, George Jones, George Strait and many more. He also created one of himself and had a very specific addition to his statue. He wanted his statute to wear a wedding ring.
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At the time, Yearwood was working in Cincinnati, so he picked up her parents in Georgia so that he could ask their permission to marry their daughter. Then, he got permission from a few other important people in his life: his daughters and his ex-wife. Once he got all of their approvals, he set the plan in motion.
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His friend Fred Reiser made a deal with Haggard to attend the event and close the show. Brooks shared, “When they unveiled the statue, I took Miss Yearwood’s hand. They’ve already unveiled Haggard, Jones, Strait … I mean this is pretty fricking cool. And I look at Trisha and point to that ring, and it was like everyone was there, but nobody was there but us. And the first thing she did was grab her face and start shaking her head from side to side, and I thought, ‘Oh s–t, did I misread this one?'”
Yearwood responded, “I know it must have scared him to death, but my first reaction was, ‘No! This can’t be happening in front of all these people! But yes! Yes! Yes!'” They wed in December 2005.
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Kings Of Country
March 2022
From outlaws Willie & Waylon to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, we have every tear in your beer covered
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