Inside Kane Brown and Katelyn Jae's Incredible Love Story

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All eyes have been on country singer and 2023 CMT Awards co-host Kane Brown, 29, and his wife, Katelyn Brown, 30, since their first-ever duet, "Thank God," became a certified No. 1 hit in February.

With the song nominated for the 2023 CMT Awards Video of the Year, you might be wondering what's the story behind the country power duo, especially Katelyn, who joined her husband on stage for the first time in December 2022.

Kane and Katelyn married in October 2018, and have two beautiful daughters, Kingsley, age 3, and Kodi, 1. They live in Nashville, except when the whole family, including their German Shepherds, join Kane on the road. (Since "Thank God" is on Kane's latest album, Different Man, released in September 2022, performances include Katelyn too.)

How Kane and Katelyn Brown Met

You might say fate was determined to bring these two together. The pair were originally set to meet in 2015, back when Katelyn was pursuing her own singing career, reports People. Kane, then an up-and-comer himself, was supposed to appear in her video, but a conflict arose. The stars finally aligned in 2016 at a Tampa, Florida, bar named the Dallas Bull where Kane was performing. Katelyn, who was living in Orlando, came to the show and they met.

Before long she joined Kane on the road. As his country music career took off, Katelyn shifted her attention to the business side of the industry. She returned to school and completed her bachelor's degree through Berklee Online’s music business program. When everyone else on tour was sleeping late the day after a show, Katelyn was up early, coffee in hand, to "do homework for four or five hours, until people woke up," Katelyn shared in an interview with her alma mater.

Marriage, Kids, and the Family Biz

The couple wed in October 2018 and shared a first dance to "Best Part," a duet by H.E.R. and Daniel Caesar, Kane told the New York Times.

Katelyn graduated in May 2019, displaying her diploma next to her husband's gold records. The pair talk about one day starting their own label, she told Berklee Online, and her music business insights have come in handy when her husband is making career decisions.

Just a year after tying the knot, Kane and Katelyn welcomed their first daughter, Kingsley, in October 2019. Their second, Kodi, arrived in late December 2021, much to the surprise of fans who had no idea the couple was expecting.

That leads us to another fact about this pair: They've learned all the tricks to keeping their private lives private. That might come as a surprise, as Kane has 3.4 million Instagram followers, Katelyn has 1.5 million, and both accounts often share candid moments of their family life together.

The couple had to learn how to set boundaries around their private life the hard way. In the past, eagle-eyed fans spotted Katelyn's ring before the couple's official engagement announcement, and the pair also missed the opportunity to share the news of their first pregnancy on their own terms, Kane told The Bobby Jones Show. So, when it came to baby two, they decided to keep it to themselves.

Katelyn wore baggy clothes and stayed behind the stroller in public, while Kane would position himself in front of her belly when needed—and it worked. Scroll through the pair's Instagram posts, and you can spot their clever baby-disguising strategies at work, such as an oversized dressy white blazer buttoned over a white gown in a photo taken in November 2021. "I spy a Baby Bump now that I know!!" commented one fan in retrospect.

Life on the Road

Katelyn recently shared an Instagram tour of the family's home away from home: their tour bus. Although the family doesn't always go on the road (in 2022, Kane gave Katelyn an Instagram shoutout for holding down the fort at home), they do go on tour together a lot, so they outfitted the bus with all the creature comforts, including framed family photos on the walls and kid-friendly features like a "baby bunk" for Kodi that functions as a crib, complete with safety netting to keep her from rolling out.

To complement the bus's light and airy interior, they added touches of cedar for "that Nashville woodsy vibe" to remind them of home. There's even a farmhouse-style sink! “I wanted a farmhouse sink because Kodi’s still getting sink baths, at least while we’re on the road,” Katelyn said.

All About the Duo's No. 1 Hit, "Thank God"

Though Katelyn set aside aspirations for a solo career, “she’s always singing around the house and her voice is beautiful," Kane told Billboard. The couple had been looking for a song to record together for a while when they got the lyrics for "Thank God." The love song, written by Christian Davis, Kyle Fishman, Jaxson Free, Josh Hoge, and Jared Mullins, features a couple thanking God that they found each other: "Hand on the bible / Don't know how I got you / I couldn't ask for more" go the lyrics.

Nominated for the 2023 CMT Video of the Year Award, the music video for "Thank God" was filmed in the lush tropical landscape of Hawaii, reports Country Now. From the 2022 album Different Man, the duet was first performed for a live audience in December. The couple will perform the song at the 2023 CMT Awards, which airs on CBS April 2, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET/PT and streams on Paramount+. Kane will be busy that night—he's also co-hosting with Kelsea Ballerini.

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