First Chapter: Instant Connection
It was 1988.
At the time, neither Garth Brooks nor Trisha Yearwood was signed with a record label, and they were trying to record demos to promote themselves to different music labels. Although the country music industry was kind of big, it wasn’t like artists wouldn’t bump into each other.
Soon enough, the two met through songwriter Kent Blazy (who would soon write one of Garth Brooks’ songs titled “If Tomorrow Never Comes”). Brooks impressed Blazy with his musical ability, and so Blazy hired him to record demos of his songs. During that time, Blazy was already working with Yearwood, who happened to be in the studio recording her own music when Brooks came.
In a later interview, Garth Brooks confessed that meeting Yearwood was strange because it felt like he just met his wife. But at the time, he was already married to Sandy Mahl for 13 months. But the feeling of connection was definitely mutual, although they did not openly speak about it. Because just like Brooks, Yearwood was also married at the time to musician Chris Latham.
Although a romantic relationship was not something they could really push at the time, the two became friends and soon enough became collaborators. When Brooks made it big, the pair started to tour together just like he had promised with Yearwood opening Brooks’ concert. They also performed several songs together, such as “Like We Never Had A Broken Heart.”
And for years, they remained genuinely good friends who supported each other’s careers.
