Faith Hill says it was “rewarding” to explore a different kind of performance in 1883

After years of being a country star, Faith Hill is no stranger to being a performer, but the singer says that acting as a different character on the set of 1883 posed a different, exciting kind of challenge.

“Having the opportunity to play a character other than myself was nice,” she tells actor Courteney Cox for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series. “It was really rewarding.”

An extra perk for Faith was being able to act alongside her country superstar husband, Tim McGraw, who played the character of James Dutton — her on-screen husband — on the show.

“And to be able to do it with Tim was remarkable. And we’ve been married for 24 years. We’ve done everything together,” Faith continues, explaining that though both of them had acted in the past, co-starring was new. “This was the first thing we had never done together.”

Still, even after all these years on stage, Faith says that performing still feels fresh. “I love performing, and it does come naturally to me three songs in,” she admits. “I stand near my band most of the time, and I’m constantly having to be reminded, ‘Oh yeah, the audience is that way!’”