Rory Feek to perform for first time since wife Joey’s death

Country music star Rory Feek is to perform for the first time since the death of his wife Joey.
The husband and wife duo performed as Joey + Rory until 2015, when Joey was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
She died aged 40 in March last year (16), and Rory, 52, has not played in public since.
However, Rory announced on Tuesday (27Jun17) that he would be returning to the stage in September (17), to raise funds for Music Health Alliance, a nonprofit organisation that helped his family with their medical bills during Joey’s cancer treatment.
“I haven’t really played any music in a couple of years and I’ve been thinking about it a lot,” Rory said at an event launching the Alliance’s Heal The Music Day campaign.
The gigs, in a barn at his home in Pottsville, Tennessee will also coincide with his late wife’s birthday.
He added, “I’ve been thinking of doing some concerts September 8th and 9th which is my wife’s birthday weekend, not because I need to, I just feel a responsibility like I should. I should get onstage and see what’s there.”
For Heal The Music Day, which falls on 20 October (17), Music Health Alliance bosses are asking musicians to donate to help cover the outstanding medical bills of Nashville, Tennessee’s music industry workers.
Rory praised the organisation for how they had helped him during and his wife’s cancer treatment, and after her death when he returned to them for help paying outstanding medical bills.
He explained, “I could not navigate the barrage of medical bills that were coming in. What is covered? What is not covered? What isn’t covered but should be? So I reached out to them again.”
Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, and Keith Urban are among the other stars who have backed the Heal The Music Day campaign.