Q&A: Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood on swinging hammers — and shedding tears — in NC

By 1 o’clock on Monday afternoon, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood had been swinging hammers into nail heads for the better part of an unseasonably warm October day in Charlotte — and quitting time was still hours away.

This, they agreed, was definitely going to leave a mark.

“Oh, hell,” the 61-year-old Brooks said, smirking, when someone asked if he thought his body would be aching when he woke up the next morning. “I’m sore right now.” Yearwood, his wife and, of course, a fellow country music singer, laughed before adding: “I mean, we exercise and stuff, but this is different. ... I’ll feel it tomorrow, for sure.”

But they’ll be back here — at this massive neighborhood-in-progress not far from the airport in west Charlotte — on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, and then on Friday, too.

Along with 900 other local, regional, national and international Habitat for Humanity volunteers. Working to build 23 homes at The Meadows at Plato Price and four more on New Pineola Road in just one week. As part of the global housing nonprofit’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, the organization’s first anywhere since 2019 due to the pandemic; and the first in Charlotte since the former U.S. president led a big early one with his wife in the Optimist Park community in 1987.

Yearwood and Brooks have long been considered country-music royalty, and two Julys ago he headlined a pair of sold-out shows at Bank of America Stadium at which she made cameos. They looked like superstars. On Monday, though, the couple looked like everyone else, as they have pretty much every time they’ve participated in Carter Work Projects for Habitat between 2007 and 2019.

Brooks wore butterscotch-colored work pants and a black T-shirt from 2017’s build in Edmonton in Alberta, Canada emblazoned with a cartoon hammer and the words “Get Your Hammer On!”

Yearwood had on black yoga pants, black rectangle glasses, and the same sky-blue T-shirt most of the other volunteers were wearing.

With their hardhats on, you honestly might have a hard time picking them out of the crowd swarming the house they’re building if you just showed up at The Meadows at Plato Place this week to gawk. Do not attempt it, however: The street where the work is being done is closed to the general public.

But while we can’t help with any actual physical celebrity sightings, we can give you a glimpse of what’s on Brooks’ and Yearwood’s minds this week as they take over hosting duties for Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter — who turned 99 on Sunday.

Here are highlights from our conversation with the couple, edited for clarity and brevity.

Q. How’s it going so far?

Yearwood: Great!

Brooks: See that house behind us? That’s our house.

Yearwood: We’re very proud of our walls.

Brooks: Yeah, I guess I’ve been away from it too long. ’Cause this morning when I pulled up, I went, “This ain’t never gonna work.” (Chuckling.) And then next thing you know, walls are up.

Yearwood: And what’s also cool is, if a house (by one group) gets done first, and somebody else is still working (on another), everybody will just move over and help that house get done — including the homeowner. So they’re actually getting to know their neighbors while they’re building their houses. By the time they all move in, they’re already a community.

Q. I watched Sunday night’s opening ceremony online, and when they introduced you guys — right after that video presentation honoring the Carters’ legacy — Garth, you came out wiping away some tears. What made you emotional about seeing that?

Brooks: Man, I’m a dad who has three daughters. So I cry at commercials now. Before we walked out, she goes, “Don’t cry.” I said, “Alright.” Then they played that video. I look over and she’s crying! So when she starts crying, (I did). I’m just in love with the President and the First Lady. I just am. I’m in love with them for what they do here. The way they act.

The thought of unity somehow is disappearing. Which I don’t understand. You would think the longer time gets, the more unified we’d all get. But they seem to be one of the greatest (champions for) unity, and I just miss that. I miss them.

Yearwood: Yeah, and watching the video, too, for me, was remembering all the builds we’ve been on together. We were on so many of those builds with them, and just their leadership, their kindness — like he said, they’re bringing everybody together and they don’t take “no” for an answer. It’s all about love. “You’re gonna love each other,” and they’re gonna show you how to do it, by the way they lead. It’s something that we have to hold onto tightly, and keep going.

Brooks: He loved being around people, and made you want to be a better person.

Q. What are some other reasons why the Carter Work Project has become as important to you as it has?

Brooks: Do you have children? … People that don’t have children, you talk about children and you just don’t get it till you have a child. (If you hear about the Carter Work Project and haven’t ever done it) you might just go, “Oh, that’s cool.” (But you just don’t get it) until you swing that hammer, and you look down and the person right next to you is sweatin’ their ass off, and you look over and go, Oh. That’s the homeowner.

Yearwood: There’s a lot of ways to give. And you know, it’s great, however you give — if you sign a T-shirt for an auction, or you write a check — all those are great ways. But to come out here and swing a hammer alongside of the people who are working hard, there’s just something about it. About getting your hands dirty. At the end of the day, you can see what you did! You have immediate gratification — like, “We just put a wall up.” So I think it’s that that we really enjoy.

We go home really tired, but it’s a good tired.

Brooks: There’s some girls from California that are here. We met at lunch. They paid to get here. And they paid a good amount to get here, just to come volunteer to build. And I think what it is, is the money that you spend, you can’t get in return anywhere else what you get here. ... They pay money to come here to help people, ’cause it makes them feel so good. It’s like “Field of Dreams,” when he goes, “They’ll come here. They won’t know why, but they’ll give you 20 bucks ... because it’s money they have, but it’s joy that they’re looking for.”

Q. But I think also part of the way — you understand this — that they get 900 people to come here is you two, right? Because your names are attached to it.

Brooks: You can try and blame it on us, which is very sweet, but I think it’s more because what we’re missing more than anything is love. And everywhere you look around here is love. Every sound you hear. That’s love. Those cheers you hear, that’s love. There’s a lady sitting on a front stoop because she got overheated, and now two guys have her, that’s love. Right? Man, if we all worked like this all the time — if we realized that skin color doesn’t matter, if we realized that Republican, Democrat doesn’t matter, pull together — see what we can do?

Q. So what are your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to building?

Yearwood: Well, he will pick up anything, he will get on the roof, he’s the “whatever-it-takes” guy. This guy has been swinging from things for a long time, so he’s not afraid of any of those jobs.

I am very bossy, and I am very Type A. But on a worksite, I love to just be told “Hammer this nail here. This is where this goes.” I love it. So I’m just “whatever you need done, let me know and I’ll do it.” Except I don’t like to get on the roof.

Brooks: We’re celebrities and we’re kind of the bosses of people (in everyday life), so we come here and we just love to be grunts. Just tell us. “What do you want?” ... (But) people are really kind of hesitant to tell us what to do.

Q. Do you feel like any of the volunteers seem distracted about working with you two, since you’re celebrities?

Brooks: If I’m working next to you, I want to know what kind of worker you are. That’s all I care about. I don’t care if you’re male, female, I don’t care what your religious beliefs are, whatever. “Are you helping me get this wall done as quickly as it can be?”

Yearwood: And I think that’s how most people (out here) feel.

Brooks: Yeah, the president often talked about Brad Pitt, and he spoke in the highest reverence with Brad Pitt, because Brad Pitt would get in there and work his ass off. And I think that’s what this thing brings out in you: You realize that you owe it to the person sitting next to you to get that wall up and get it done right. Get it done safely, but get it up.

Q. You said earlier that you miss them being here. How different does this project feel, without the Carters?

Yearwood: It feels like he’s here. I feel like he’s looking over his shoulders right now. And I’m sure he’s asking how our house is doing.

Brooks: I told her at lunch, we’ve been on (lots of) these and — knock on wood — none’s gone this smooth. I mean, this is like a machine going here. So I think he’d be very, very proud.

Q. So what are you looking forward to most about this week?

Yearwood: I’m just loving the build. I mean, I just really love getting in there. Like I said, I’ll have blisters and I’ll be tired tomorrow, but again, just taking direction and just kind of seeing it come together is really, really cool.

Brooks: Yeah, and try to remember, our headline for the next six days is not gonna be about a potential government shutdown. It’s not gonna be about a trial. It’s not gonna be about anything other than, “Hey, Ashley ran a Sawzall today for the first time!” “We got that whole roof up, nobody got hurt!” That’s our headlines. I love ‘em. ...

The joy of not seeing depressing headlines here, it’s wonderful.