Kix Brooks and his wife Barbara Brooks's love story started long before Kix was a country music superstar and half of the iconic country duo Brooks & Dunn. The couple has now been happily married for nearly 40 years.
"I'm from Boston, but I moved to Maine after college and had a fabric store there. Kix was there, having left his native Louisiana to help his sister and brother-in-law at their fledgling ad agency," Barbara told Farm Flavor.
Kix decided to move out to Nashville to pursue his dreams of working in the music industry and was able to maintain a long-distance relationship with Barbara. The following year, she decided to follow Kix to Tennessee, and they were married in 1981.
Before partnering up with Ronnie Dunn, Kix started out working as a songwriter in Nashville throughout the 80s. After a brief solo career, Brooks & Dunn partnered up and released their debut album Brand New Man in 1991 and the duo spent a lot of time touring on the road when they weren't in the studio recording number one hits like "Boot Scootin' Boogie." Barbara stayed home to focus on their two children, Molly and Eric Brooks.
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"Thankfully, Kix has always been focused on our kids and family," Barbara says. "But when he was touring really heavily in the '90s, it was hard. Our kids were little and I quit my job to be home. Kix and Ronnie [Dunn] were on a bus and didn't get to come home often."
Kix gave his wife her first horse for her 40th birthday, a Paint mare she named Angel. After purchasing a second horse, she started breeding horses at the couple's 550-acre farm in Williamson County. She starting competing in horse cutting competitions and, in 2013, she even became president of the National Cutting Horse Association.
Outside of her love of horses, Barbara has kept busy since Kix opened up his business, Arrington Vineyards, in 2007. We wish the couple many more years of happiness!
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