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Valentine's Day: Cupid's arrows of love target (and hit) country music stars, too
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The glow of love: June Carter and Johnny Cash.
From the roller-coaster highs that love can bring to the heartbreaking devastation it leaves in its wake, country-music stars, like the songs they sing, are among the most passion-filled souls around all year, not just on Valentine's Day.
Their romances and break-ups, in fact, inspire some of the most heartfelt artistry our culture has known. Country fans, in turn, revel with happiness when a favorite music couple stands the test of time, just as they mourn when their favorite artists endure heartache from a love gone wrong.
THE PARTING OF the late Tammy Wynette and George Jones, for example, was as heartbreaking for many country fans as any star-crossed Romeo and Juliet saga could ever be.
The look of love: Dean Sheremet and LeAnn Rimes.
1. Texas-reared songbird LeAnn Rimes, 26, met her husband of seven years, dancer Dean Sheremet, in 2000 when he was cast to dance during her performance on a country awards show. The still-blissfully happy twosome walked down the aisle on Feb. 23, 2002, and on their 2008 anniversary, they held a three-day celebration to share the fact they're still doe-eyed as ever about one another. (No such thing as the 'seven-year itch' for these sweethearts.)
2. IN SUMMER 1915, two-thirds of the original Carter Family united in holy matrimony in Clinch Mountain, Va., when A. P. Carter wed Sara Dougherty. A little more than a decade later, the legend we know today as Mother Maybelle Carter, formerly Maybelle Addington, married Ezra Carter. As noted by music writer Tom Rowland, the Carter Family’s classic "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" was originally penned as an ode to the hereafter, but it also could pass for a tune about golden bands; namely, wedding rings.
3. One of the few country-music stars born in Nashville, the great Kitty Wells, whose signature hit, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels” made her the sixth most-successful female country artist of all time, according to the Billboard chart, met her singing cowboy, Johnnie Wright, when she was only 18 and signed on to sing in his band.
Married Oct. 30, 1937, and the parents of three children, the country-music couple will celebrate their 72nd anniversary this year and are still making beautiful music together. In fact, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum currently hosts an exhibit featuring the couple, Kitty Wells: Queen of Country Music.
4. About a decade after Kitty and Wright said "I do," Roy Rogers married his cowgirl sweetheart, Dale Evans, on dec. 31, 1947, in a ceremony at the Flying L Ranch in Murray County, Okla. The pair had "Happy Trails" throughout the duration of their 50-year union.
5. ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a bluegrass hero named Earl Scruggs who, in 1948, married Louise Certain. The new Mrs. Scruggs went on to become the competent manager of Flatt & Scruggs; thus, playing a tremendous part in casting bluegrass in a favorable perspective.
6. Although he’s seldom, if ever, photographed, Dolly Parton really does have a husband, Carl Dean, and the couple wed way back in May 1966. Word has it the long-time husband and wife returned to the Catoosa, Ga., where they first wed on their 40th anniversary to celebrate the event.
Believe it or not, Parton has been married longer than one of country music’s favorite couples, the late Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, who wed March 1, 1968, in the Methodist Church, in Franklin, Ky. Although both Johnny and June had prior marriages, it is this 35-year union most country fans remember best.
Kitty Wells and Johnnie Wright going strong 71 years.
7. IN FALL 1969, just a year after June and Johnny wed, Cash’s old pal Waylon Jennings married the love of his, singer-songwriter Jessi “I’m Not Lisa” Colter. FYI: The couple took part in country music's first platinum album, Wanted: The Outlaws. The couple also are parents of recording artist Shooter Jennings.
9. Once upon a time, actress Lisa Hartman-Black was often seen in celebrity magazines on the arm of in-demand bachelors including Paul Stanley of KISS. On Oct. 20, 1991, though, the Houston starlet walked down the aisle with the man of her dreams, country music’s Clint Black. The parents of one child, Lily Pearl, who was born in 2001. In addition to sharing parenting, they also share joint custody of a Grammy nomination for their country duet, "When I Said I Do."
11. BY ALL ACCOUNTS, it seems Grand Ole Opry star Marty Stuart and his wife, fellow Opry member Connie Smith, have been together a lifetime, because it’s hard to imagine one without the other now. However, it wasn’t until July 8, 1997, that the country-star couple wed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. FYI: Stuart, at age 12, first met Connie after one of her shows and that day, told his mother he’d one day marry the cute ‘n’ country star. And he kept his word.
FAVORITE NEW COUNTRY-MUSIC COUPLES: Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, Julianne Hough and Chuck Wicks.
Country music's Clint Black teamed with wife Lisa Hartman Black to perform a Grammy-nominated duet that was inspired by their enduring love.
Johnny Cash and June Carter sing their signature "Jackson" hit.
Arista Nashville recording artist and recent Grammy winner Brad Paisley's written at least two country love songs about his wife, including "Little Moments" and "She's Everything."
Brad Paisley - She's Everything
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