Joey + Rory React to 2016 Grammy Awards Nomination: ‘Thank You, Thank You, Thank You’

Joey + Rory received some very special news on Monday morning (Dec. 7): Their version of Townes Van Zandt's "If I Needed You" is one of the Best Country Duo / Group Performance nominees at the 2016 Grammy Awards.

In a Facebook post, Rory Feek shares the sweet reaction he and his wife had to the surprising news.

"As her excitement and tears flowed into mine, she said, 'How can that be?'" Feek recounts. "... the song received no radio airplay ... no press ... no critical acclaim ... and the only music video we made for it was to celebrate the day our little Indiana was born.

"God is so good," he adds. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"If I Needed You" is from Joey and Rory Feek's 2013 album Made to Last. As Feek notes, its music video shows the husband-and-wife duo preparing for the arrival of their baby girl, Indiana Boone, in February of 2014. Little Indy, as her parents call her, was born with Down syndrome, a chromosomal disorder.

“Although that news came at first as a surprise to us, Joey and I wouldn’t have changed a thing,” Rory Feek said at the time. "During the pregnancy, we never did an ultrasound, or saw a doctor, nor would it have made any difference if we had. We trusted that God would give us the baby He wanted us to have ... and He has. Out of all the parents in the world, He has chosen us to care for and raise this special gift.”

Joey + Rory's Grammy nomination comes during a difficult time: In late October, Rory Feek informed fans, via his blog, that his wife’s first round of chemotherapy and radiation treatments for Stage IV cervical cancer did not help; rather, two quarter-sized tumors had appeared in the same area that the doctors had been treating, and several more tumors had appeared in her abdomen. In light of that sad news, the Feeks stopped all medical treatments, returned to their Tennessee farm and canceled all of their Farmhouse Concerts that were scheduled for November and December. They have been spending time in Joey Feek’s hometown, visiting with family, friends and other loved ones, and in early November, Rory Feek revealed that his wife had entered home hospice care.

“I pray that one morning I just don’t wake up. But I don’t fear anything because I’m so close to God, and we’ve talked about it so many times. I know he’s close. And I know he loves me,” Joey Feek says. “I’m really at peace. I still believe there’s healing in prayer.”

In February, Joey + Rory’s Hymns That Are Important to Us album will be released, with proceeds benefiting the Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Foundation, in honor of Indy's best friend Scout, who has Loeys-Dietz Syndrome. Meanwhile, fans and fellow country artists have been campaigning to get Joey + Rory’s song “When I’m Gone,” originally released in 2012, to the top of the iTunes charts.

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