28 Years Ago Today, Garth Brooks Reached No. 1 With a Bob Dylan Song His Future Wife Also Covered

Already well established in his country music career by the late 1990s, Garth Brooks wasn’t exactly looking to record a cover. However, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put his own spin on a Bob Dylan classic.

So when actor Forest Whitaker asked the country music hitmaker to record a version of Dylan’s 1997 song “To Make You Feel My Love” for the romantic drama film Hope Floats—which Whitaker directed—Brooks readily agreed. On this day (August 1) in 1998, his rendition of the tender ballad reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart.

Garth Brooks’ Daughter Thought This Song Was an Adele Original

Bob Dylan first wrote “Make You Feel My Love” for his 1997 album Time Out of Mind.

Since then, the song has taken on a life of its own, with more than 450 different artists covering it. Aside from Brooks, that list also includes Adele, Michael Bolton, Boy George, Joan Osborne, and Pink.

“You’re the coolest luckiest guy if you get to do Dylan’s stuff, man,” Brooks said in concert in an undated video. “This guy is a genius. If you haven’t figured it out, I’m going to try to BS my way all night long, but Dylan is gonna shoot you straight from his heart to yours.”

The 22-time ACM Award winner stayed true to Dylan’s original work—but that didn’t stop American Idol star Kelly Clarkson from believing “To Make You Feel My Love” was a Garth Brooks original.

“I had no idea that Bob Dylan existed when I was a kid. No one around me listened to Bob Dylan, but I sure as hell knew your version,” the “Breakaway” singer told Brooks in 2019. “I thought it was a Garth Brooks song like until I was 20.”

Unlike Clarkson, Brooks’ own daughter wasn’t aware that her father had ever recorded “To Make You Feel My Love”.

Her first exposure to the song came in 2008, when Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Adele covered it for her debut studio album 19.

 “You walk around thinking, ‘To Make You Feel My Love, I feel pretty good about my version.’ But then you hear Adele’s version, all of a sudden you’re like ‘Well okay, I get it, everything she touches, just sings, it’s beautiful,’” Brooks said.

His Wife Covered the Same Song for the Same Film

Notably, Garth Brooks wasn’t the only country artist to cover “To Make You Feel My Love” for the Hope Floats soundtrack.

Trisha Yearwood—whom Brooks would marry in 2005—also recorded a version.

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Brooks’ cover kicked off the album; while Yearwood’s closed the soundtrack. Her version didn’t fare quite as well as her future husband’s but it did reach number 32 on the Hot Country Songs chart and number 22 on the adult contemporary chart.

Featured image by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images