Denton County Living Well Magazine Winter 2014 | Page 29

“

I’m always holding out hope
till the last second.
TRISHA YEARWOOD

”

It’s only Tuesday and Trisha Yearwood already feels like she’s been climbing a neverending hill all week––because she has.
“The dogs and I have been hiking up this same hill by the house for a couple months
and I mean, it literally goes straight up,” the blonde singer with the newly-found muscles
declares. “But yeah, I’m really proud of myself because I am just rocking that hill.”
That old hill on her sprawling Tennessee property isn’t the only battle Yearwood admits to
finding herself battling at the moment. A well-loved icon in the country music industry for
over 20 years, Yearwood currently finds herself as a recently turned 50-year-old female
artist trying to get played on currently male-dominated country radio.
Talk about a challenge.
Because in case you haven’t turned on country radio in awhile, much has changed
since Yearwood first broke onto the scene with the release of her multiplatinum debut
album in 1991. Songs of true love and devotion has been replaced with songs about
trucks and whiskey, creating quite a test for a platinum-selling, multiple GRAMMY, CMA,
and ACM award-winning recording artist known best for country music hits such as “She’s
In Love With The Boy,” “Walkaway Joe,” and “How Do I Live.” Yet, with the release of her
12th album appropriately titled “PrizeFighter,” Yearwood is showing that she is up to the
challenge.
“I don’t always win, but I always think I will,” she says. “I’m always holding out hope till the
last second. I’m the one playing poker and needing that one card and always believing
that I am going to get it. That’s how I live. I mean, I put 110 percent into making this new
record. I never think about the odds against me.”
AGAINST ALL ODDS
Not many women get to live the life and career that they dreamed about as a little girl––
but Trisha Yearwood is one of those lucky few. Before becoming one of the highest-selling
female artists in country music history, Yearwood was just a girl growing up in Georgia.
The daughter of a local banker and schoolteacher, Yearwood grew up listening to Kitty
Wells and Hank Williams and singing to anyone who would listen. After graduating from
Belmont University in Nashville with a business degree, she began to dip her toes into the
music industry by working as a backup singer for a slew of new artists coming into Music
City. One of those artists was Garth Brooks, who went from co-worker to friend to husband
in the matter of 20 years.
“Garth is not like other boys,” chuckles Yearwood, who is currently touring alongside
Brooks on his wildly popular World Tour and serving as ‘bonus mom’ to Brooks’ three girls.
“He just has so much energy and I am so proud of him. My part of the show is not even
half of what he does, and I’m exhausted. He has another gear somewhere. He hates it
when I say this, but he truly can do things that no one else can do. There are moments
when I stand in the back of arena and I swear he can see me. He has this ability of
making people feel like they are the only person in the room. That’s a gift.”

DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | WINTER 2014

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