County Derry woman's close encounter with Garth Brooks' wife

It was a long shot, but Cathy McGuigan chanced her arm anyway.

The Draperstown woman had been attending a Trisha Yearwood gig at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Philadelphia on a cold November night in 2005.

Towards the end of the show, she announced to her friends that she was leaving early.

“They call me 'Cathy Click' because I'm always taking pictures, and they asked where I was going and I said I was going to meet Trisha Yearwood and get a picture with her,” she told the County Derry Post.

“They said 'naw, naw, you'll not get near her', but I said I'd go on ahead anyway. The Keswick Theatre would be a smaller theatre, like the Millenium Forum, so it was an intimate gig, it was lovely.

“I went round the back of the building and there was a young fella standing at the door and he said 'excuse me M'am, you can't be here.”

As Cathy turned around, she caught sight of Yearwood's tour bus, waiting outside the venue to sweep its illustrious passenger to her next gig.

“It was massive. I was so busy taking pictures of the tour bus; a wee Irish girl star struck by the bus,” said Cathy.

“They were expecting an encore inside, but she had to get straight on the bus to somewhere else, but of course I didn't know this.

“I heard the doors behind me, and the next thing they flew open and out comes Trisha Yearwood with her entourage walking towards me.

“I'm completely star struck and I'm shouting at her 'Trisha!' as if I know her and I said 'you need to get your picture taken with me' instead of the other way round.”

Expecting to be ushered away by the country star's security team, Cathy recalled her amazement as she got closer to the action than she could ever have dreamt.

“So she thought that was funny; she started to laugh and she just hooked her arm into mine and said 'okay, but you've got to come with us, you've got to come on the bus,” she said.

“She took me by the arm and brought me on the bus and I was looking around me, completely dumb. “So I said 'you need to sign something' but I had nothing on me so I was just holding out my arm.

Trisha Yearwood is married to country singer Garth Brooks who is currently playing in Croke Park, Dublin.

“She sent one of her assistants to get something, and they brought some stuff back. She started talking to me – she was engaged to Garth Brooks at the time.

“She said he had always promised he would go back to Ireland and that he would take her with him, so we were chatting about this.

“I asked her to sign something for my dad, because my dad was retiring; he was an ambulance driver in Letterkenny, and she did.

“She was so nice, so down to earth, but she said she had to go and head on to the next city. Even in the picture I'm completely star struck.”

Leaving the bus with her photos safely on the roll and a moment to retell for decades, Cathy had to deliver some disappointing news to Trisha's other fans who had gathered in hope of a glimpse.

“All these people came round the corner and said they were waiting to see Trisha, and I had to say 'no, she's away, I was just on the bus with her,” she said.

“They were taking pictures of my pictures of me being on the bus, which was so funny. It was just incredible.

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“I've met a few over the years in Philadelphia and out of the whole lot, she was the most down-to-earth; just a lovely person.

“Some of them [security] did look at her as if to say 'will we move her?' but she took me by the arm and said come on the bus with me.”

Cathy will not be heading to Dublin for Garth's marathon of shows, though she conceded this is probably the last chance local fans will have to see him live on the island.

“His shows are very active, that's the thing about him. You're guaranteed a brilliant show. This will probably be the last; he'll never do this in Ireland again,” she said.