The year 2005 was certainly a good one for quality country music. There was so many great albums released that your AboutCountry staff had a horrible time choosing which 10 would make our "Best of 2005" Top 10 lists. As with any year, there were highs and lows. Here are just some of the stories that happened in country music in 2005.
Kenny Chesney started the year with the first of two albums he would release in 2005. The first Be As You Are: Songs from an Old Blue Chair was a collection of very personal songs about his life. Add to that his huge tours, which ranked fourth overall in all genres, and No. 1 in country music, selling out 68 out of 71 shows, which included three stadiums. Kenny had a great year.
Kenny married actress Rene Zellweger in a small, intimate wedding on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands on May 9th. This shocked nearly everyone, who didn't know the two were even serious. But, things didn't turn out so well for the couple, who after four months filed for divorce. No one but Kenny and Rene really know what went wrong, and it's not for us to know, anyway.
Kenny released his second album, The Road and The Radio in November, and it quickly went 2X Platinum within a month of its release, and produced a Top 3 single, with "Who You'd Be Today."
Keith Urban was another star with a big year, starting with his No. 2 song, "You're My Better Half," and following that up with "Making Memories of Us," which stayed at the top of the charts for five weeks, finishing with another No. 1 with "Better Life," which held the onto the No. 1 spot for six weeks.
After picking up the ACM Male Vocalist Award in May, Urban went on to pick up the CMA Male Vocalist Award, and the CMA Entertainer of the Year Awards in November. Around that time, rumors were flying that Keith was seeing actress Nicole Kidman, and one site has even said the two will be married on New Year's Eve.
Garth Brooks also made news this year when he severed ties with his longtime record label, Capitol Nashville. Soon, rumors were flying about what he'd do next. What he did was sign an exclusive deal with Walmart to sell his upcoming box set.
In May, at the ACM Awards, Garth and Buck Owens held a press conference telling about the 10 Bronze Statues of influential country stars that would be unveiled at Buck's Crystal Palace on May 25th. As the day arrived Garth arrived with Trisha Yearwood, whom he brought on stage with him. As they unveiled the statue, Garth dropped to a knee and asked Miss Yearwood to marry him in front of the crowd of 7,000 fans. She was flabbergasted, but shook her head yes.
Apparently, when they were designing the statue, Garth thought about how it would last for all time, and he decided he wanted that his statue to be wearing a wedding ring. He knew Trisha would wonder what was going on if she saw his statue wearing a wedding ring, so he took the opportunity to ask her to be his wife.
While at the ACM Awards, Garth presented Chris LeDoux the Pioneer Award. Later in the year, he released a new song, in tribute to Chris LeDoux, called "Good Ride Cowboy," which he performed live in Times Square for the CMA Awards in New York City.
In November, shortly after Thanksgiving, Garth released his box set, The Limited Series through Walmart. Because of the exclusive deal, the numbers weren't reported to Sound Scan, but it's been estimated that over a million copies have been sold so far. To top it off, Garth priced the set at a mere $25.00, which is typical of his wanting pretty much anyone to be able to afford it. The set includes three previous albums, a DVD of Garth interviews, plus a disc of brand new material, including "Good Ride Cowboy." Fans were ecstatic to receive new Garth music, even though this wasn't technically new, with the exception of the single.
Ever since Garth and Trisha became engaged, everyone asked them what the date would be for their wedding, which they never would give out. That day ended up being December 10th at their ranch in Oklahoma with just their families and publicist attending.