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PrintLive From The Country Music Hall Of Fame: Joey + Rory
Whats next for Joey + Rory? Find out as they sit down with C&I's Joe Leydon in this exclusive interview
Cowboys & Indians: You've been charting songs and performing concerts as a duo ever since you appeared on Country Music Television's "Can You Duet?" But you're not exactly overnight sensations, right?
Joey Martin: [Laughs.] Not hardly. I've always wanted to be a country singer - that's what I moved [from Indiana] to Nashville to be. And I tried, actually, for a long, long time. In fact, after I was here for a couple of years, I had a deal with Sony Records. But halfway through recording my first album, Rory and I got married. Well, I had signed as a solo gal who was not married. So they had a problem with that. And there were a lot of other issues, to where it just didn't work out. So I walked away, and for about four or five years I just grieved. I thought my one shot was gone and I was never going to get another opportunity.
C&I: So while you and your sister-in-law opened a restaurant near Nashville, Tennessee, Rory continued to work as a songwriter. But even then, you didn't give up your dreams.
Joey: Well, we went around and knocked on doors and had meetings with record labels. We brought all kinds of songs for them to hear - some of them we later recorded on our first album - but their response was always the same: "Those are nice, but we don't see where you're going to fit in."
Sam Sisco
C&I: Why do you think you met so much resistance?
Rory Feek: Part of the problem was, at the time, if you looked up and down the Top 40, you might see just one or two real country singers on it. You'd see George Strait, of course, but you wouldn't see any new traditional country singers breaking out. So I guess we were too much of a throwback. And, yes, there was the fact that we were married.
C&I: That was a problem?
Rory: As far back as when she was at Sony, they said they wanted Joey to appear single. And when she couldn't and wouldn't, they said that was undesirable and unmarketable, and a problem all the way around. I didn't really believe that. I feel that people are starving for the truth and honesty, and that they'd really respond to a wife who really wanted to be a wife and wanted to sing about that. At the same time, though, I'd worked enough in the industry to know that if I wrote a song in which a guy sings about how he's happy to be married - well, I'd have a hard time, because the conventional wisdom is the guy has to appear like he's single and available.
C&I: Things changed after you appeared on "Can You Duet?" But at the time did you think you had a chance for breakout success?
Rory: When we did the show, I was 42 and Joey was 32. So it wasn't an obvious pairing - even though it was an obvious pairing in life. So it was hard for me to imagine us being together, and being as country as we are, and making it. I kept telling Joey, "This is not going to happen." Because it was too good and too real. And I'm still amazed, because it has happened, and it is happening.
Joey: The thing is, I had never witnessed a husband and wife team break through in country music together. You had Johnny Cash and June Carter, of course, but they were already celebrities before they came together. For a married couple to break together - it just didn't seem like there was a place in country music for that.
C&I: Show business can drive couples apart. But between recording, touring, and living together on your Tennessee farm - do you ever worry if you might be spending too much time together?
Rory: [Laughs.] This may sound surprising, but, honestly, that's really never been an issue with us. That doesn't mean it never will be an issue, but we really are as happy and as comfortable and not-stressed marriage-wise as we were two years ago.
Joey: The key is, we love each other so much. But we also respect each other so much.
THE TAB
• YOUR CHEATIN' HEART:
Joey + Rory scored their first Top 40 hit with "Cheater, Cheater." It was launched with a music video featuring a cameo by Naomi Judd, who had been a judge on "Can You Duet?"
• VIDEO CRITIQUE:
In their next music video-_for their second single, "Play the Song"-Joey + Rory tweak music video clichés by altering their down-home images: Joey sports blue hair and spangles, while Rory trades his trademark coveralls for fringe and (temporary) piercings.
