Him+17, countrified

Sheri’s a merciless editor – even of her husband’s words -- and nothing I write gets out of the house without her reading it first. Likewise, I read her work. We collaborate. We butt heads. And in the end, what we write is better for our collaboration. Our marriage is, too.

So I’m rooting for Marty Stuart and Connie Smith, a husband and his seventeen-years-older wife, who right now are Grammy Award nominees for a duet called “I Run To You.” The show will be broadcast next week, on Feb. 13, 8 p.m. east coast time, on CBS. The couple are competing for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Stuart is up for another for Best Country Instrumental; both songs come from his album Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions.

The couple married in 1997, having first met when Marty was a 12-year-old who saw Connie perform at a fair in his hometown. She forgot him, but he didn’t forget her. You can watch them perform “I Run To You” in this video.

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I’m no country music expert, and the song is likable enough, but I’m saying the outfits are more fabulous than the tune. Nevertheless can’t we all agree that husband-and-wife teams with a seventeen-year age difference deserve mega-national awards? Isn’t there a Pulitzer Prize for blogging collaborations?

Can’t we also agree that I’d look yes-yes-yes in a silk scarf and sequins?