Tim McGraw Brought This to Faith Hill’s House to “Hook” Her: “It Worked!”

The country power couple met back in 1996 and have been happily married ever since.

They say the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach, and Tim McGraw has a story to prove just that.

The “Cowboy Lullaby” singer has been married to his wife Faith Hill since 1996. Together, the country power couple has welcomed three daughters: Gracie, Maggie, and Audrey.

McGraw and Hill’s love story goes back nearly three decades. You’d probably never guess that the way McGraw “hooked” his wife back in the ’90s would be through a cozy bowl of chicken and dumplings.

How Tim McGraw wooed Faith Hill with homemade chicken and dumplings

During a 2019 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, McGraw told host Kelly Clarkson that he romanced Hill by pulling out the big guns — chicken and dumplings.

“I love to cook, we both cook. Faith’s a fantastic cook,” the country star shared, adding that he tends to cook “the staples.”

“Chicken and dumplings is a big go-to at our house,” he told Clarkson. “That’s sort of how I hooked Faith was with chicken and dumplings. I took ’em to her house, we were touring together. I didn’t know her that well, she lived right down the road from me, and I made some chicken and dumplings. I thought, ‘You know, I’ll take some chicken and dumplings and cornbread down to Faith Hill and see how that works out.’”

“It worked!” Clarkson chimed in.

Back in 1996, Hill was the opening act for McGraw on his Spontaneous Combustion tour. At the time, they had “just started dating,” as McGraw shared in a Facebook post, and the two were married later that year.

Speaking to Clarkson in 2019, McGraw said that he still cooks chicken and dumplings for Hill “every now and then to see if it still works.”

“You’re like, ‘You still love me, right?’” Clarkson laughed. “I just can’t imagine being her and opening her door and Tim McGraw’s just standing there with chicken and dumplings.”

Tim McGraw says working with his wife Faith Hill makes his music “exponentially better”

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill attend the 16th Annual Academy of Country Music Honors on August 23, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Photo: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images/ACM

After falling in love in the late ’90s, McGraw and Hill have continued to perform, tour, and make music together. And during a 2020 interview with Willie Geist on Sunday TODAY, he said his wife makes him “better.”

“I’ve found that the times that I’ve spent working with Faith, especially touring with Faith, that my records got sort of exponentially better,” he shared. “When it comes to singing with Faith, it’s like a NASCAR trying to keep up with an Indy car.”

McGraw added that Hill doesn’t bite her tongue if something is off about his performance. “I get that look from her sometimes during the middle of the show with her. You know, ‘You’re faltering a bit, son,’” he joked. “The point is she makes me better.”In May 2025, McGraw shared on Tracy Lawrence’s Road House podcast that meeting, marrying, and building a family with Hill has been “life-changing.” He said, “She turned my life around. I couldn’t have found a better woman. Not only beautiful and talented, but just a good, good person.”