Trisha Yearwood & Garth Brooks Sang This "Walkaway Joe" Duet 8 Years Before They Wed
Country music's biggest couple duetted as pals in 1997, and the performance is sweeter than Yearwood's Crock-Pot candy.
Watching this clip of Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, it's easy to believe they'd go on to be wildly in love one day.
In truth, when they performed "Walkaway Joe" in 1997, they were years away from getting married. They weren't even dating at the time, as Brooks was then married to his college girlfriend, Sandy Mahl. Per People, he and Yearwood met at a recording studio in 1987 — one year into his marriage to Mahl — and became fast friends and collaborators. Beginning in the early years after they first crossed paths that day, the two musicians have contributed to each other's albums and performed together, including Brooks backing Yearwood up in a performance on '90s talk show Home Team with Terry Bradshaw.
Released in 1992 and originally featured backing vocals from The Eagles' Don Henley, "Walkaway Joe" is one of Yearwood's best-known singles. As Yearwood explains in the clip, the demo had vocals that sounded to her like Henley, so she asked him to duet.
"Never did she say, 'It could be Garth, but we'll go ahead and get Don,'" Brooks jokes in the 1997 clip.
"Well, it's really hard to get Garth on the phone," Yearwood quips.
Watch Garth Brooks sing backup on Trisha Yearwood's "Walkaway Joe" here.
Trisha Yearwood's husband Garth Brooks proposed with a bronze statue of himself
This duet was neither the first or the last for Brooks and Yearwood, and it was an early taste of the eventual couple's fruitful creative collaborations.
And as a couple since 2002, their love story has been filled with movie-worthy moments, such as the time in May 2005 when Brooks proposed with help from a bronze sRtatue created in his honor, on a stage in front of a huge crowd.
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"He got a statue unveiled that night, and it had a wedding ring on it," she recalled in a video with Us Weekly. "I was like, hey, they made a mistake here. And then I realized..."
They married in December 2005 and will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in December 2025. In 2023, Brooks revealed at a press conference that Yearwood had tried to change her name to Brooks, and he wasn't having it.
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"Jack Yearwood had two daughters. That Yearwood name is Trisha," he said, according to Taste of Country. "I'd be fine changing my name to Yearwood. Tradition doesn't count here. What counts is when you have two celebrities, don't have one swallow the other," he explained.
In March 2025, Yearwood received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Brooks cried from the audience as Yearwood thanked him.
"That one has really been a cheerleader and as many accolades as he has won, I never see him get more excited than he does when I receive something," she said. "For all the people that want this for me, nobody wants it more than you. I appreciate you for being my support."
Don't miss Trisha Yearwood on the 2025 Macy's 4th of July Fireworks special
Yearwood will be a part of NBC's 49th broadcast of Macy's 4th of July fireworks special hosted by Ariana DeBose. The country star is set to perform as part of a star-studded lineup that includes Jonas Brothers, Eric Church, Lenny Kravitz, Keke Palmer, and more.
Everything to Know About the 2025 Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Special
