At the 2018 CMA Awards, country superstar Garth Brooks performed a very special new song, one that he says was written specifically to honor the strength of his wife, fellow country star Trisha Yearwood. Brooks offered a stripped-down acoustic performance of the brand-new track, "Stronger than Me," and shortly thereafter, he told The Boot and other media outlets backstage that he was relieved he didn't cry during the intimate performance.

However, when she heard the song, Yearwood was a little misty-eyed. "She lost the bet, then," he jokes.

Brooks admits that even though he'd been hoping for quite some time to debut the song on the CMAs stage, he nearly got cold feet leading up to the big moment. "The closer I got, the more I thought it was a bad idea," he recalls. "Because she's not a big surprise girl."

Even so, the singer says that he's glad he performed the song the way he did, because it was important to him, not only in terms of his career, but also in terms of his relationship with Yearwood. Brooks explained that the song spoke to two specific aspects of his marriage, although he wouldn't specify what those aspects were. "This song is going to make our relationship better, whether it does anything in the music industry or not," Brooks explains.

Brooks was the reigning CMA Awards Entertainer of the Year -- he won in 2016 and 2017 -- but was not nominated at this year's awards. Even so, he said in advance of the show that he was looking forward to "a great night."

Garth Brooks + Trisha Yearwood's Sweetest Moments

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