In February 2016, the biggest story in country music should have belonged to Chris Stapleton. He had just won two Grammy Awards, and his album Traveller had been sitting at the top of the country chart for weeks. But when the new chart came out, Stapleton was no longer No. 1.
The album that passed him was a quiet collection of old hymns. It was sung by a 40-year-old woman who was in hospice care at her childhood home in Indiana, too sick to celebrate the way most artists do. Her name was Joey Feek.
The Album She Had Waited Her Whole Life to Make
Joey Feek and her husband, Rory Feek, had built a loyal following as the duo Joey + Rory. But Joey had a dream that went back long before the duo existed. She wanted to record the hymns she grew up singing in church. Songs like “Softly and Tenderly,” “I Need Thee Every Hour” and “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.”
She never got around to it until life forced the question. In 2014, a few months after giving birth to their daughter, Indiana, Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer. By the summer of 2015 she was recovering from surgery and facing stage four disease. That is when they finally made the record.
Vocals Sung in Hotel Rooms
The way Hymns That Are Important to Us was recorded tells you everything about that season of their lives. The musicians tracked their parts in a Nashville studio. Joey could not always be there, so she recorded her vocals at home and in a string of hotel rooms while she went through treatment.
“She sang her vocals in hotel rooms while she did chemo and radiation.” — Rory Feek
Rory’s older daughter, Heidi Feek, sang harmony on the album. Rory wrote on his blog at the time that Joey wanted to hold on to the words and music of her childhood, the songs that helped a hard life make sense.
In October 2015, Joey shared that her cancer was terminal and that she had decided to stop treatment. The album was finished. Now the only question was whether she would live to see it released.
The Phone Call Rory Carried Into Her Room
She did. Hymns That Are Important to Us came out on February 12, 2016, just before Valentine’s Day. Nobody expected what happened next, least of all Joey and Rory.
In its first week, the album sold about 68,000 copies. To understand how big that was for them, their previous best week had been around 8,000 copies, when their debut album came out years earlier. Hymns debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, ending Chris Stapleton’s long run at the top. It also topped the Christian albums chart and landed at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard 200, the first time Joey + Rory had ever cracked that chart’s top 10.
When the label called with the news, Rory did not wait. He took the phone straight in to Joey. The album went on to hold the top of the country chart for three weeks and stayed in the Billboard 200 top 10 for five straight weeks.
Watching the Grammys From Home
That same week, Joey + Rory had something else on the calendar. They were nominated for a Grammy for their song “If I Needed You.” Instead of going to Los Angeles, they watched the ceremony together at Joey’s childhood home near Alexandria, Indiana. They lost to Little Big Town.
Sitting there, Joey asked Rory for a promise. If they were ever nominated again, he had to go. He said he would. Then, with a smile, she added a line he would carry with him for the next year.
“Remember, if we win, I’ll know before you will.” — Joey Feek, as remembered by Rory Feek
Joey Feek died on March 4, 2016, less than a month after Hymns was released. She was 40 years old.
One Year Later
When the next Grammy nominations came out, Hymns That Are Important to Us was on the list for Best Roots Gospel Album. Rory kept his word and went to Los Angeles.
On February 12, 2017, one year to the day after the album’s release, the Recording Academy announced the winner. It was Joey + Rory. Rory walked up during the pre-telecast ceremony and told the room about his wife’s lifelong dream, the hotel-room vocals, and the night they had watched the show together a year earlier. He ended simply.
“This is to my wife.” — Rory Feek
It was the first Grammy of their career, won together even though only one of them was standing on that stage. And if Joey was right about that last promise, she already knew.
Do you remember where you were when you first heard Joey Feek sing these old hymns? Which one still stays with you?