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The love story of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill started on a tour two decades ago, and that sparkling chemistry onstage has made them one of their genre's biggest headliners.

The country couple with movie-star glamour have sold more than 63 million albums in the U.S. between them, have earned two Grammys for duets they sang together and have three children. This year, they are releasing their first-ever duet album together and started the third installment of their highly successful Soul2Soul World Tour, which stops in Salt Lake City on Sept. 27.

"I haven't been on a stage like this in 10 years and that is no lie," Hill said of the tour. "I can tell you right now I am fired up."

During an Associated Press interview before their rehearsal at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas last month, Hill and McGraw were giddy with anticipation.

"She's ready to turn it loose," McGraw said.

"Age is not an issue," added Hill, who together with her husband will be turning 50 during the tour that runs through October.

The Mississippi-born Hill and the Louisiana-born McGraw fell in love when she opened for him on his 1996 Spontaneous Combustion tour, and they married that year.

In 2000, the first Soul2Soul tour grossed $48.8 million, making it the best-grossing country tour in North America that year, according to Pollstar. The Soul2Soul II tour was even more successful, grossing $88.8 million in 2006, the third-highest-grossing North American tour that year.

McGraw credited their success on the road to the fact that they are very different singers who push each other to expand their ranges onstage.

"Faith, I would say, is more of an R&B, sort of gospel-inspired singer," McGraw said. "And I think I am more a '70s rock, arena rock, Merle Haggard-meets-arena-rock kind of singer. She brings me a little bit more to the R&B side, and I bring her more to the arena-rock side, and I think it creates a sort of magic."

Their first duet together, "It's Your Love," was on McGraw's 1997 "Everywhere" album, which was followed by "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me," from Hill's multiplatinum album "Faith." Since then, they have had several popular duets, including their latest, "Speak to a Girl," which jumped into the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot country songs chart after they performed it on the ACM Awards.

They say they don't always agree in music, or in marriage, but McGraw said commitment is key.

"Look, there is no secret," Hill said. "Either you like one another or you don't. You want to stay married or you don't. You work at it, or you don't. Simple as that. It is not always easy and there are moments that are rocky."

"But you don't walk away," McGraw said.

"I would rather live a life in rocky-road ice cream than vanilla any day of the week," Hill said. "Honestly, vanilla gets boring after a couple of days."

A smiling McGraw adds: "So I am not vanilla!" —

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

When • Wednesday, Sept. 27, 7:30 p.m.

Where • Vivint Smart Home Arena, 301 W. South Temple

Tickets • $66.50-$116.50; Smith's Tix Couple on couples

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, who recently embarked on their third Soul2Soul tour, talk about what they admire about other musician couples inside and outside country music.

Beyoncé and Jay Z

Although this royal couple have only toured once together, the On the Run Tour in 2014 was a cinematic event. Beyoncé and Jay Z teased the tour with a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired trailer, and highlights from the tour ended up on HBO as a special. "The truth is, I want to be Beyoncé every single freaking night of my life," Hill said. "So I go out there thinking, 'I am Beyoncé!' "

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood

The couple have been singing together for longer than they have been married. Yearwood was a backup singer on Brooks' "No Fences" album and the opener on his first headlining tour. Married in 2005, they have been touring together on the Garth Brooks World Tour since 2014. McGraw broke out in the '90s thanks in part to Brooks bringing country music to a much wider audience. "We all came here at the same time, but Garth is Garth and nobody can be Garth," McGraw said. "He opened the door for a lot of us."

Faith Evans and The Notorious B.I.G.

Earlier this year, CNN accidentally tweeted a headline with the wrong singer named Faith on a news item about Evans releasing a duet album with her late rapper husband, whose real name is Christopher Wallace. Fans on Twitter were quick to poke fun at the mistake, but Hill responded enthusiastically: "This sounds awesome!" Evans responded on Twitter with a suggestion: "Up for a bonus duet, Ms. Hill?"

Vince Gill and Amy Grant

These two sweethearts put the love back in holiday season with the Christmas shows they've been doing for more than a dozen years that highlight Grant's contemporary Christian hits and Gill's premier guitar chops. "She is an incredible woman," Hill said of Grant, while Vince "is one of the most respected people in the business."

Kristin M. Hall, The Associated Press