Joey + Rory Win Best Roots Gospel Album at 2017 Grammy Awards

Joey + Rory won Best Roots Gospel Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards, with the most precious album of all: Hymns That Are Important to Us.

Though it was emotional seeing Rory onstage accepting the hardware for he and his wife, it was also joyful -- especially as Rory recalled what his wife said about this Grammy.

Rory, wearing his signature coveralls, took the stage with Joey's father. "My wife's dream was to make a hymns album pretty much her whole life. She didn't have the chance until she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer."

As fans know, Joey recorded her vocal parts in hotels as she underwent chemo and radiation, and the couple released the album exactly one year ago, February 12, 2016. It includes familiar hymns like "Softly and Tenderly," "It Is Well With My Soul," "I Need Thee Every Hour" and more.

Rory recalls, "We sat together in the final days and watched this awards ceremony last year. She said, 'If we get nominated, promise me you'll come." He agreed, and remembers that his wife "... got a big smile on her face and said, 'Remember if you win, I'll know before you will."

Joey peacefully passed away at the age of 40 just a few weeks after the Grammys. At the time, Rory announced, “This is the last record that Joey and I will ever get to make and the last songs we’ll ever get to sing together,” Rory Feek says. “I have no desire to go on singing or performing without her.”

The couple was nominated for a Grammy last year with "If I Needed You" Best Country Duo / Group Performance.