Joey + Rory Lose Grammy To Little Big Town, But Continue to Celebrate With Family

By Leah Marieann Klett

While country music duo Joey + Rory didn't score a Grammy during last night's awards, the country couple nevertheless celebrated the special occasion with their family.

Joey, presently in hospice care in her childhood home near Alexandria, Ind. and Rory were nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their song, "If I Needed You." However, it was announced before the red carpet ended that Little Big Home had taken home the Grammy in the category.

The nomination was a tremendous achievement for the family, who has continually documented their maintaining of faith and family through Joey's cancer battle. As reported by The Gospel Herald, Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014, and stopped medical treatment in October after doctors gave her six to nine months to live.

The Feeks told ET they reacted to the announcement with "excitement and tears," adding: "When you love country music as much as we do, to even be nominated for a Grammy for Best Duo/Group Country Vocal Performance is like winning the lottery."

In a blog post last Friday, Rory wrote that the couple planned to watch the Grammys on TV along with their young daughter, Indiana. His daughters from a previous marriage, Heidi and Hopie, traveled to Los Angeles with Joey & Rory's manager, Aaron Carnahan, to attend the ceremony.

"Joey tried to talk me into going with them... many, many times. She even had a Southwest ticket purchased for me that I cancelled," said Rory in a blog post last week.

"I can't leave her. I won't. I have done many foolish things and made lots of mistakes in my life, but this isn't going to be one of them."

He then spoke about what might have happened if they won the Grammy, saying; "The girls have asked me to write something for them to read... just in case. I told them not to worry about it, but they insisted...I can't imagine our names being called. But then again, Joey and I also couldn't have imagined us being where we are at all... the good parts or the bad."

Rory also shared a sweet photo of Indiana getting her hair done on Monday, writing; '...Indy getting her hair done by her Aunts for Grammy watching w her mama and papa tonight (if it's not past her bedtime)."

Joey and Rory Feek
Joey and Rory Feek

The couple's latest album, titled "Hymns & Stories That Are Important to Us" went on sale at Cracker Barrel restaurants on Friday.

In an earlier blog post, Rory revealed that Joey had three goals for the week: releasing last Friday's album, living to watch the Grammys, and seeing her daughter turn 2 years old on Wednesday.