There are many famous country music couples, but very few of them have had recent success on country radio. With “Chasing After You” now a Top 10 hit, Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris become just the third married pair to do it since the year 2001.
Clint Black‘s (Lisa Hartman Black) “When I Said I Do” topped the charts in 1999. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have dropped three duets together since marrying in 2005, but the best of them peaked just outside the Top 20. Previously they scored hits with songs including “In Another’s Eyes,” but that was pre-2000 and pre-marriage.
Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton never released a hit duet to radio while married, unless you count “Boys ‘Round Here,” which featured her group Pistol Annies. We didn’t.
We’ve heard Nicole Kidman sing, but she’s never been a featured artist on Keith Urban‘s records in their 15 years of marriage. That leaves just Hurd + Morris to join Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and one other country couple.
“Just to get to do it with Maren and have a song in the Top 10 together is really special,” Hurd, whose new Pelago album drops Oct. 15, tells Taste of Country Nights. “I’d never compare myself to Tim McGraw, but to be mentioned in the same sentence is pretty incredible.”
Ironically, McGraw helped bring them together. It was in writing “Last Turn Home” for McGraw’s Sundown Heaven Town (2014) album that they started to fall in love with one another. That album also includes “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s,” McGraw’s Top 5 duet with his wife Hill. This is the last time a married country couple scored a big hit, but the last time a married country couple topped country airplay charts was one year earlier.
Thompson Square (Keifer and Shawna Thompson) scored four Top 10 hits and two No. 1 hits between 2010 and 2013. “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” is their most well-known No. 1 single, but in 2013, they hit the top of airplay charts again with “If I Didn’t Have You.”
There’s potential for this list to grow soon. Kelsea Ballerini is married to singer and songwriter Morgan Evans. Gabby Barrett is married to singer Cade Foehner. Heck, even Kane Brown and Jason Aldean‘s wives can sing, although neither seem focused on recording with their spouses.
The most likely next married country hit might come from Shelton and Gwen Stefani. They’ve got two No. 1 hits under their belts as a couple, but they weren’t yet married when “Happy Anywhere” and “Nobody But You” topped the charts.
The 50 Best Ever, Country Music Duets, Ranked
Country music is well known for its collaborations, and there is no shortage of duets within the genre’s lifespan. But we’ve cut it down to 50 of the genre’s most memorable duets over the past several decades, as you’ll see here.