Rory Feek, one-half of the husband-and-wife country music duo Joey + Rory, announced the release date for their final album on his blog, "This Life I Live," the Boot reported. The couple will release "Hymns That Are Important To Us" on Valentine's Day 2016, a collection of gospel songs that were recorded before Joey was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer and ultimately placed in hospice care to live out her last days at her childhood home in Indiana.
In his blog post, Rory detailed a moment with his wife when she saw the first snowfall of the year. Flakes started to fall just after Joey broke down and cried because she wanted to be around to raise the couple's 2-year-old daughter Indiana. The snowflakes made Joey smile, and Rory went outside to document what might be his wife's last snowfall and paired it with an unfinished track titled "It Is Well with My Soul" from their upcoming album.
"When that song is finished, it's gonna be part of a new album we have coming out on Valentines Day. Joey's album," Rory wrote in his blog post. "The one she's always wanted to make - filled with the hymns she grew up with."
He went on to explain that the music was recorded over the summer in Nashville, after Joey was recovering from her first surgery. She tracked her vocals in hotel rooms and at the farmhouse that the couple owns outside of Nashville, on days when Joey was feeling better.
"This record means so much to her. It is the songs that are the most important to her," Rory wrote.
"Hymns That Are Important To Us" will be released as part of the Gaither Gospel Series, according to Rolling Stone. Proceeds from album sales will benefit the Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Foundation, a connective-tissue disorder that affects Indiana's best friend Scout.
Listen to a preview of an unfinished track "It Is Well with My Soul" from the upcoming album below:
Manna From Heaven from Hickory Films on Vimeo.
