The Year in Country Music 2018: “This Is It”: Maren, Scotty, Kane and Brett Young tie the knot; others get engaged, expand their families
ABC/Image Group LAWEDDINGS
In country music, tying the knot seems to be very good for one’s career. Take for example, Kelsea Ballerini and Morgan Evans. The two walked down the aisle in December of 2017, and by the end of 2018, they were the only married artists who’d each scored a #1 hit: Kelsea with “Legends” and Morgan with “Kiss Somebody.”
A similar thing happened with Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd, who made things official in Music City on March 24, 2018, before honeymooning in Bora Bora, French Polynesia. In January of 2018, Maren landed her first #1 with “I Could Use a Love Song,” and by September, Ryan had his own as well as a songwriter: Luke Bryan‘s “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset.”
Scotty McCreery wed his longtime girlfriend Gabi Dugal in their home state of North Carolina on June 16, honeymooning in Bora Bora as well. The song he wrote about his proposal, “This Is It,” is currently in the top ten; the American Idol winner celebrated his first #1 with “Five More Minutes” back in February.
2018 was certainly a breakthrough year for Kane Brown: As his career reached another level, and he gave up his single status to marry Katelyn Jae on Friday, October 12. The ceremony took place in front of a couple hundred friends and family members at Franklin, Tennessee’s Mint Springs Farm. The newlyweds honeymooned in the mountains of East Tennessee.
At the 2017 CMA Awards, Brett Young was thrilled to be reunited with longtime girlfriend Taylor Mills. By the 2018 CMAs, the two were newlyweds, having married a couple weeks earlier on November 3 in Palm Desert, California. Gavin DeGraw, Lee Brice, Luke Combs and Brett himself all sang during the festivities. The couple managed to squeeze in a pre-CMA beach vacation, though they had to relocate from the Virgin Islands to Miami because of rain.
ENGAGEMENTS
You can add Brett’s pal Luke Combs to the list of folks who have a trip down the aisle in their future. The CMA New Artist of the Year revealed his engagement to Nicole Hocking a couple weeks after the CMA Awards.
In June, Maddie & Tae‘s Maddie Marlowe accepted a proposal from Jonah Fount, her boyfriend of seven years. On July 21, Lauren Alaina and Alex Hopkins also officially became engaged, after six years together.
BABIES
The country family welcomed several sets of twins in 2018: Lady Antebellum‘s Hillary Scott gave birth to Betsy Mack and Emory JoAnn on January 29, while we learned in April that Chris Stapleton‘s wife Morgane had delivered twin boys.
In early November, Chris and Morgane revealed they were expecting again, with their fifth child on the way. Similarly, Jason Aldean and his wife Brittany will welcome their daughter Navy Rome in February; their son Memphis was born in December of 2017.
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