Recognized for her vocal prowess and songwriting gifts, Joey Feek reached the height of her recognition during the closing phase of her existence, chiefly through her partnership in the married vocal act Joey + Rory. Born Joey Marie Martin on September 9, 1975, in Alexandria, Indiana, she started performing songs in childhood under her father's guidance. Although she trained toward a career as a veterinarian, her path led her to Nashville, Tennessee, where she began exploring the area's music community. There she formed connections with Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn and Wilbur Rimes, father of LeAnn Rimes, and started performing regularly at songwriter nights in local clubs, where she encountered another emerging songwriter, Rory Lee Feek. The pair married in 2002 and kept advancing their individual and joint musical efforts. Joey secured a recording agreement with Sony Nashville and, in 2005, recorded the solo project Strong Enough to Cry. A corporate restructuring at the label ended her association and left the album unreleased. In 2008 the couple entered the television contest Can You Duet, where they introduced the name Joey + Rory, and they placed third. Sugar Hill Records then signed them, issuing their first album, The Life of a Song, in October 2008. The release performed well commercially, leading the duo to issue four additional albums on Sugar Hill, followed by two gospel-focused sets on Gaither Music Group and the secular collection Made to Last on their own Farmhouse label.
Tragedy arrived in May 2014 when, three months after the birth of their daughter, Joey received a cervical cancer diagnosis. Surgery appeared to eliminate the disease months afterward, yet in July 2015 tests showed the cancer had returned and spread to her colon. Additional procedures and care confirmed a terminal prognosis, prompting widespread support across country music outlets and Christian online communities. Joey chronicled her experience on the blog This Life I Live, and she and Rory recorded their last album, 2016's Hymns That Are Important to Us, during hotel-room sessions amid treatment travels. The project became their biggest seller, reaching number one on the country charts and number four on the pop charts while earning a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album. Joey Feek passed away on March 4, 2016; a private service was held at the farm she shared with Rory. In April 2017 the previously unreleased Sony recordings, now titled If Not for You, appeared through Farmhouse Records.
