It’s been just over a year since Joey Feek died, and as an avid reader of her husband Rory’s blog, This Life I Live, I still cry at everything Joey+Rory. So excuse me for a minute while I have a low-key breakdown because Rory just decided to release Joey’s 10-year-old solo album for the first time.
More:Rory Feek Updates the World on His Life One Year After Joey’s Death
My heart. My. Heart.
In a press release, Rory explained why he decided to release Joey’s solo debut more than a decade after she recorded it.
“This collection of music sat quietly on a shelf for the last 10 years or so, waiting for the right time to come along, when maybe somehow, someone would care. A time like now,” he wrote. The 12-track album, If Not For You, was recorded when Joey and Rory “were still newlyweds, or at least we felt like we were,” Rory continued. “It is one of the great joys of my life to dust these songs off and bring life to them again. Not just the songs, but also the stories and the life of the special woman that these songs represent.”
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Rory documented every heartbreaking moment of his wife’s battle against stage-4 cervical cancer. She was diagnosed in May of 2014, and then had multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation to fight the disease. She entered hospice care and died in October 2015, and through it all, Rory wrote raw messages to their fans on his blog. He’s continued to document his life with their young daughter since Joey died. Theirs is one of the most beautiful love stories ever captured, and Joey’s solo album will only give us more of a glimpse into a once-in-a-lifetime love.
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