The following year, Evans and Barker were married in Franklin, Tennessee, surrounded by family and friends, and their children serving as the attendants. Evans’ friend, songwriter Marcus Hummon, sung his country hit that he co-wrote with Rascal Flatts, “God Bless the Broken Road,” as she walked down the aisle.
“He was our own personal matchmaker,” Evan explained to People, describing her minister Joe Beam, who also married the couple. “I think God told Joe to get us together.”
Evans and her children, Avery Jack, Olivia Margaret and Audrey Elizabeth, moved to the Birmingham suburbs with Barker and his children, Andrew, Braxton and twins Sarah Ashlee and Harrison. Barker, a Trussville, Alabama native, moved on from football and became a radio personality. While he’s currently an analyst on ESPN radio, he previously hosted a show with Al Del Greco on WJOX.
While Barker is busy talking sports, Evans is still making music. She skyrocketed to fame with Born to Fly in 2000 and has released seven studio albums since. She recently partnered up with her two children, Olivia and Avery, to release The Barker Family Band in 2019. The family recently relocated to Nashville before Evans’s new album Copy That was released earlier this year. She shared in an interview with She Rocks Podcast that she is focused on raising awareness for what it’s like to raise a family in the music business.
“If you want to have a great family and a great home you have to do the work,” Evans says. “It takes effort. You can’t just let things go, everything is important. I’m hugely focused on making [my kids] self aware. It is not about having money, it is about teaching them to put others first and to be empathetic.”