Rory Feek Almost Gave Up On Making Music If It Were Not for His Father-in-Law

By Timothy Yap May 22, 2021 05:48 AM EDT

Before Rory Feek met his wife Joey, he had already been writing songs for country artists such as Clay Walker, Terri Clark, Lorrie Morgan, Blake Shelton, Tracy Byrd and many others. When he met his wife Joey, they formed Joey + Rory. Together, they not only scored hits on the country charts, their final album Hymns That Are Important to Us debuted at number one on the Top Country Albums and Top Christian Albums charts and number four on the Billboard 200. However, when Joey died of cancer in 2016, Rory was ready to hang up his boots as far as making music is concerned.

"For a long time after Joey passed, I was pretty certain that my music days were done," Rory shares, "That my guitar was put away for good. But after a couple of years of staring at the concert hall in my driveway, I started to wonder if maybe there was still some music left in me and a reason the building was here and so was I. Maybe there was something that I had to say? Something that I needed to say or share on my own..."

However, Rory's love for making music was re-ignited by his own father-in-law, Jack. He recounts, " It was on a trip back to Indiana around that time that I mentioned this to my father-in-law Jack. He's the one who told me... "I think you should start singing again. Sitting on that stool with a guitar in your hand sharing songs and stories is where Joey first saw you. How she fell in love with you. It's what she would want you to do." And so I have. For the last couple of years, I have been getting back on our stage and singing. At first, only for a concert here or there, but then in time, it has become one weekend a month in the big barn at home, like Joey and I used to do together.

And it has been really special for me. Partly because I get to be with our crew of friends and family each time, but even more so, because I get to be with her again. Sitting there on that stool, surrounded by a room full of people listening, has a way of transforming me back to the time when it was her and I on the stage together, and we were both in awe, that somehow God had given us the opportunity to not just perform for people, but to mostly do it at home, in our own way. Playing the kind of music that we loved most (country music story songs), the way we love most (acoustically)."

Rory is going to release his first solo album Gentle Man on June 18th. It is Rory's first album since losing his wife Joey. The album includes Rory Feek and Jamie Teachenor's co-written single "Met Him in a Motel Room" with vocals by Trisha Yearwood. The album also includes a cover of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin.'" Rory has also released another new single off the new album this week. The new song is called "Time Machine." The song was first recorded by Collin Raye in 1995 on his I Think About You album.