On This Date in Country Music History: The Day Trisha Yearwood Arrived

Thirty-five years ago today, on July 2, 1991, a twenty-six-year-old woman from Monticello, Georgia released her debut album on MCA Records. Nobody outside of Nashville had any idea what was about to happen, and even the people inside Nashville might have underestimated it.

The album was called simply Trisha Yearwood. It reached number two on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and was certified double Platinum, eventually selling two million copies. But the numbers alone do not capture what made that release historic. The lead single did.

"She's in Love with the Boy" rose straight to number one on Billboard's country charts, the first time a debut single had done that since Connie Smith's "Once a Day," twenty-seven years prior. Yearwood was the first female country artist ever to reach number one on her very first single. She did not ease into country music stardom. She arrived at the top on the first try.

The story of how she got there, though, is the one worth telling on this anniversary.

Trisha Yearwood had grown up on a thirty-acre farm in Monticello, Georgia, the daughter of a banker and a schoolteacher. She transferred to Belmont University's music business program in Nashville, graduated in 1987, and spent the next several years doing exactly what most aspiring artists do in Music City: singing on demo recordings for songwriters, working as a receptionist at a record label, giving tours at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and waiting for her chance.

"I worked cheap. I sang on pitch and I knew the song when I got there," she remembered. "I learned what a good song was, and I learned what my own voice was, because I had to take a song that no one had ever sung and make it my own."

The break came through a friendship that would define her entire life. One of the artists she recorded demos with was Garth Brooks. Developing a friendship, Brooks promised to help Yearwood sign a recording contract if his career succeeded. Brooks introduced her to his producer Allen Reynolds, who then brought her to the attention of producer Garth Fundis. In 1990, she sang background vocals on Brooks's blockbuster album No Fences and performed live at a label showcase. MCA producer Tony Brown heard her performance and was impressed. Brown helped her sign a recording contract with the label.

The debut album also included a song called "Victim of the Game," which had originally been recorded by Brooks for No Fences, a small thread connecting the two careers that had grown up together in Nashville.

The promise Brooks had made was kept. The debut that followed was historic. Yearwood was named top new female vocalist by the Academy of Country Music and went on to produce three more platinum albums and multiple number one singles through the 1990s, winning three Grammy Awards and becoming one of the most celebrated female voices in country music history.

She and Garth Brooks eventually became something more than collaborators. They married in a private ceremony in Oklahoma in December 2005, and she has called him the love of her life ever since. The friend who kept his promise became her husband.

Thirty-five years ago today, one of the great careers in country music began with a girl from Georgia, a debut album, and a number one single that rewrote the record books. Read Trisha Yearwood's full bio on our website, and explore Garth Brooks' story there as well.