Joey Martin

As one-half of the husband/wife country music duo Joey+Rory, featured on the new CMT/American Idol tv show "Can You Duet", Joey has a voice that is reminiscent of a modern-day Emmylou Harris and a style that’s been compared to a female George Strait. Different than most cosmopolitan, high-fashion female country artists out today, Joey’s not just a country singer, she is country. She sings that way, dresses that way and lives it every day of her life. She knows her way around horses, barns and cattle and she ropes on the side. She may look a supermodel, but she rolls her sleeves up and works like a cowhand. Besides singing, Joey, along with her sister-in-law Marcy, owns and operates a country diner about 45 minutes south of Nashville in the small community of Pottsville (outside of Columbia, TN) called Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse. One of those rare-breed of women who believe their dreams and their destiny are the same thing. Joey’s cut from the cloth of old school strong-backbone female artists like Loretta, Patty and her idol Dolly Parton. She knows who she is and what life and love are truly about. She loves traditional country music. It’s all she knows. Her background is pure country, just like her image and lifestyle. Joey’s never been afraid to sing about the things that are important to her. About real life... family, faith, love, cowboys and the occasional butt kicking she may have to give if a woman tries to take her man. Proudly hailing from Alexandria, Indiana; a small farming and factory town, Joey’s one of five children- 3 sisters and one younger brother... Jody, Julie, Joey, Justin and Jessie). Her father Jack, a guitar-playing GM worker and her mother June, a farm-raised gospel singer married after his return from Vietnam and their passion for music was passed down to their middle child Joey. Her first performance was at her first grade talent show, where she sang “Coat of Many Colors” with dad playing guitar and the rest of the school watching in awe as a six year old unwrapped her “gift” for all the world to see. She has been on stage ever since… Because of her love of horses, after graduating high school, Joey got a job as an assistant for a horse veterinarian in the area, where she continued working for the next 3 years, all the while playing around Madison county in a band and individually. On August 15, 1998 - Joey’s mother helped her pack her things into a cattle trailer and they moved her to Nashville – actually an hour south of Music City to a small rustic cabin in Lewisburg, TN to go to work for another horse vet there. Through the cutting-horse business, she soon met Wilbur Rimes and later Barbara Brooks and her husband Kix. Joey was soon working full time at the Rimes’ barn in Lebanon, taking care of their cattle and horses and watching songwriter nights in Nashville on the weekends. In 2001, Joey was signed to Sony Records and hit producer Paul Worley (The Dixie Chicks/Martina/Big & Rich) and Billy Crain cut a debut album on her, but before her record ever got out of the chute, the label execs were let go and replaced and with the old regime also went Joey’s album. Believing that everything happens for a good reason, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise…giving her the opportunity to take her time and grow as a woman, as a songwriter and as an artist. Still determined to find her place in hallowed halls of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Joey and her songwriter husband Rory Feek ("Some Beach" and "Chain of Love") recently auditioned for, and are part of, the new CMT/American Idol tv show "Can You Duet" that begins airing on 4/14/08. Remaining true to who they are and to the music they love, Joey and Rory are sure to poised to be one of America’s next great country music duos.