Tim McGraw Recalls Being a Bridesmaid With Garth Brooks
Who knew?!
Time for a little throwback Thursday, country-star podcast edition! Tim McGraw has told listeners a crazy story about the time he and Garth Brooks were both bridesmaids in the same wedding — and it highlights the one-big-happy-family feel of country music.
Speaking on his new Beyond The Influence Radio with Tim McGraw on Apple Music Country, the country icon was gearing up to interview this week’s guest, Keith Urban. But before getting there, he just had to share a little memory. Apparently, McGraw was being mentored by a woman named Tammy Rose back in his early days in Nashville — and so was Brooks. So when Rose got married, both of them ended up standing beside her on the alter. Here’s how McGraw tells it:
“You know, when I first moved to town, oddly enough, there was a girl named Tammy Rose who sort of took new artists under their wing when they first moved to town, and Garth Brooks was a friend of hers,” McGraw explained. “I was a friend of hers. Tracy Lawrence was a friend of hers. And so when she got married, she asked Garth, me and Tracy Lawrence to be her bridesmaids and Garth … had just blown up, big. Tracy had had hits. I had just gotten a record deal and hadn’t had a hit. So we’re all bridesmaids at this wedding for Tammy and I’m standing there. I’m sort of in awe.”
The superstar goes on to explain that he felt moved to thank Brooks for his success — which opened the door for other artists who wanted to bring a more rock-oriented, mass-appeal sound to country music. But Brooks was having none of it.
“I went up to Garth and I said, ‘You know, I just want to thank you Garth, because you knocked the door down for all the things that I wanted to do as a country singer. I wanted to come to town and record songs that had a broader melody or broader appeal and I wanted to do shows that were like the rock shows that I saw growing up. That’s the kind of thing that I wanted to do,'” McGraw recalls. “And he said something really profound to me and it stuck with me to this day.
“[Brooks] goes, ‘Look, we all moved to town for that reason. I just got here first,'” McGraw went on. “And I thought that that was really sweet of him to say that, but really, really perceptive of him to say that too, as well, because we were all thinking those sorts of things. We all grew up in that environment. Seeing, watching, hearing all these different influences and wanting to include them in the genre of music that we chose to make.”
Who knows what might be different if McGraw had hit Nashville first — or if the two of them had never had that moment. But it speaks to the reputation country artists have for supporting each other, hardly ever seeing each other as rivals.
Later on, McGraw and Urban talked extensively about Urban’s early days and inspiration in Australia, the “trick” he uses if he forgets a guitar part onstage and much more. Previous episodes of Beyond The Influence Radio with Tim McGraw feature Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard, rock icon Bruce Springsteen and more. Check it out on Apple Music Country here.
