Walker Hayes and His Wife Laney Share an Epic Love Story

If the first time you heard Walker Hayes' smash hit "Fancy Like" left you curious about the woman he refers to as his "Dixieland delight," well, you're not alone.

While the country crooner's chart-topping single focuses on the less-serious aspects of his relationship, don't be fooled: there's nothing superficial about this romance.

Walker met his wife Laney when they were in elementary school in Mobile, Alabama, though they didn't start dating until high school.

In an appearance on The Bobby Bones Show in 2019, Walker recalled being nervous to speak to his future wife, who was a popular cheerleader. But all that changed when they performed together in a school play, Little Shop of Horrors.

"My true first memory of him is, we were doing rehearsals—this is after we'd already made the cast. He had a solo—well, he was a lead in it, so he had a lot of solos," Laney said. "He started singing the first part of his first solo. I remember looking down the aisle and going, 'Who is that guy? That guy can sing!'"

After dating for almost seven years, the lovebirds tied the knot on June 12, 2004—but not before a difficult break-up.

"I didn't know I wanted to marry Laney until we actually broke up for about nine or ten months right after college, and it was the hardest, it was almost like a divorce," Walker told Sounds Like Nashville. "We had been together for six, seven years, [but] that volatility that made us so beautiful also made us explosive… I wouldn't have said a lot of peers or families thought we were the greatest match, but we knew there was something we couldn't duplicate."

Today, the couple lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with their six children.

"Everybody thinks I'm crazy having six kids and chasing this dream," Walker told People back in 2017. But he tells his wife, "You're crazier than anybody because you married me, and you're still around for all this."

But Walker knows he has Laney to thank for his success. For sticking by him during the lowest lows, and now, the highest highs of his career.

"She has a way of looking at me and remembering what's best about me… even though it's nowhere close to coming out," he added. "Her faith in my gifts and my talents are beyond my own faith in them."