Christian singer Joey Feek is no longer with this world, but bluegrass artist Bradley Walker said she continues to inspire him to this day.
Walker, who was born with muscular dystrophy and has spent most of his life in a wheelchair, told the Rolling Stone that he first met Rory and Joey from the singing duo Joey + Rory back in 2007.
"They had heard my album and loved it," he recalled. "I got a friend request from Joey one night on MySpace, and just fell in love with her voice and then met them not long after that and fell in love with her as a person."
Because of their solid friendship, Walker was heartbroken when he learned that Joey was stricken with cervical cancer seven years later. She died in March this year at the age of 40. But before that, Joey had one last request from her friend — to sing at her funeral.
"I could hardly take it," Walker said. "Rory called me that night they were on their way back to Tennessee, and asked me to sing. There's only one answer: 'Of course I'll sing.' For him to pick the phone up and call me and for her to want me to sing, there's no greater honour for a singer than to be able to do that for somebody."
Even in death, Joey continued to be a blessing to her friends. Walker sang her favourite hymn "Leave It There" at her graveside service in Tennessee, and gospel legend Bill Gaither and his wife Gloria were so impressed that they offered him a record deal.
Rory was the one who produced Walker's latest album called "Call Me Old-Fashioned," which includes a posthumous duet with Joey in the song "In the Time That You Gave Me."
"You never know how God can take a devastating, terrible situation and bring a blessing out of it," Walker reflected. "Joey has blessed so many people with her story and the way she lived her life right up until the very end. I feel like she's upstairs looking down on all of this smiling."
