Country music has gifted us with some sizzling-hot couples. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Glen Campbell and Tanya Tucker, and Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash riveted us because the emotion between them inevitably emerged in their singing. It was raw, moving, and passionate. You could not help but respond to that display of mutual feeling. They let it flow, and we swooned for them.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Let's take a look at these lovebirds and why we adore them. Luke Combs said, "Some things just go better together and always will," per countryliving.com. Some country music singers just go better together and always will, too. It's impossible to imagine one person without the other. These are romantic pairings for the ages. Although Tucker and Campbell never wed and did not remain together, they had a tempestuous and volatile May-December relationship that made headlines, raised eyebrows, and stayed in our memory.
Tim McGraw And Faith Hill
These two met in 1994, per People. McGraw was already in a relationship; Hill was engaged at the time. But they were magnetically drawn to each other despite their ties to others. They talked about their attraction frankly. "We were young and silly and goo-goo eyed in love," McGraw said. According to Hill, "If someone is going to judge my character because I was engaged to somebody and then I left him for somebody else — 'Oh, OK, now she's a slut and a bad person' — I can't control that. But I wasn't about to let Tim slip through my hands." She still has a grip on her man after 29 years of wedded bliss and the birth of their three daughters.
To see their chemistry in action, just watch the video for their 1999 duet, "Let's Make Love." Filmed in Paris, the sparks between them fly off the screen. The song stayed for nearly a year on the Hot Country Songs chart and earned a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. How about an award for hottest country couple?
George Jones And Tammy Wynette
Per nbc.com, "After creating nine studio albums together and delivering countless glimmering singles to country music's 70s and 80s golden era, Tammy Wynette and George Jones have long been regarded as one of the genre's most iconic duos." They certainly endured their share of ups and downs. Jones and Wynette met in the 1960s, thrown together by their musical careers. Their nuptials took place in 1969, with their marriage only spanning five years. Jones' substance abuse issues doomed their union. His cocaine and alcohol woes have been extensively-chronicled.
Per People via The New York Times, "[T]he couple began to call themselves 'Mr. and Mrs. Country Music,' and moved to Lakeland, Florida. (The couple had the phrase emblazoned on a $100,000 12-bed superbus for road tours.)"
They recorded duets such as "The Ceremony" and "We're Gonna Hold On," but life as a couple was unsustainable for them. By 1975, Wynette finally threw in the towel. (It was actually the second time she filed for divorce from Jones.) They would continue to occasionally perform and record together, however. When she passed away in 1998 at the age of 55, Jones sounded genuinely crestfallen.
Per Showbiz Cheat Sheet, "I am just very glad that we were able to work together and tour together again. It was very important for us to close the chapter on everything that we had been through. I know Tammy felt the same way. Life is too short. In the end, we were very close friends, and now I have lost that friend," he concluded (per Rolling Stone via People). "And I couldn't be sadder."
Glen Campbell And Tanya Tucker
When I read about the combustible relationship between Glen Campbell and Tanya Tucker in the early 1980s, I can't help but think of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Sort of a "can't live with you but can't live without you" type of thing. They to seem to have sometimes unintentionally brought out the very worst in each other. Also, there was a 22-year age difference. Toss in alleged substance abuse issues, and you have the makings of an emotionally explosive situation.
Per Wide Open Country, Tucker said that her youth was another factor in their breakup. "I will have to say that I was very young, and knew how to push the buttons and I thought there was more fish in the sea. But looking back, I think sometimes you get the love of your life when you're too young and you don't know how to handle it. So I think that was me."
She added, "Time just exposed the fact that he was my true love. He was the love of my life... If I had made a different choice, things might have turned out differently. And we probably would have still been together. [But] I was too young."
They made beautiful music together in spite of their personal troubles. Tucker and Campbell performed duets on songs such as Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover" and "It Must Have Been The Mistletoe." After his death in 2017 at age 81, she released a song titled "Forever Loving You," which apparently irked Campbell's widow, Kim.
Watching them sing together so many years after their relationship ended, they are still amazingly hot. An iconic (and tragic) country music couple.
Johnny Cash And June Carter Cash
This is yet another turbulent country music couple, thanks to a blend of passionate love, substance abuse and volatile tempers. Per Woman's World, "In the realm of musical romances, none are as talked about and scandalous as Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash." The pair met in 1956. Several years later, June co-wrote the legendary song, "Ring Of Fire," which is believed to be about her relationship with Cash. The two wed in 1968.
Johnny and June had a rocky life together. Their son, John Carter Cash, said per the outlet, "By the late 1970s, his addiction had taken back control of his life, and their relationship was in shambles. It fell apart completely. They were just the paperwork away from being divorced."
He added, "But they learned to love each other again. They forgave. And the miracle is that they had the power to forgive. They got strong again together. And, yeah, there were times when she should have left him. But my mom and dad had a way of holding dear to each other. And, I mean, this wasn't happily ever after. They did not live happily ever after. They lived happily after all, after everything...And their love was stronger at the end of their life than it ever had been."
The Cashes recorded many songs together. Among them are "If I Were A Carpenter," 'Brand New Dance," "Jackson," "Help Me Make It Through The Night," and "It Ain't Me Babe."
June died in 2003 at age 73. Johnny passed away four months later. He was 71.
Two short months after June's death, Johnny said per the outlet, "The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and Heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from Heaven, to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration, like she always has... I thank God for June Carter. I love her with all my heart."
