Rory Feek has long been touching hearts as one half of the country duo, Joey + Rory alongside his wife Joey Feek, as well as opening up about his wife’s cancer journey on his blog, This Life I Live. Songwriting has often been a family affair. For eight years, Feek wrote and recorded alongside his wife before she passed away in 2016. He’s also co-written several songs with his daughter, fellow singer Heidi Feek, for her album The Only. When he’s not writing for himself, Feek can often be found writing songs for his peers and heroes, ranging from Blake Shelton to Bill Anderson. Check out three songs you didn’t know he wrote for other artists.
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1. “Some Beach” by Blake Shelton
Written by Rory Feek and Paul Overstreet
Rory Feek had a hit on his hands as a songwriter with Blake Shelton’s “Some Beach” which he co-wrote with Paul Overstreet. It became Shelton’s third No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2004 where it sat for four weeks.
The song arrived after Overstreet had been on the road with Kenny Chesney and he and Feek came into the session with the intention of writing a beach song for him. “One of us said the phrase ‘some beach,’ and we just started giggling like schoolboys,” Feek recalled to Songfacts about how the idea originated. “That song sat around for a good while before anybody ever recorded it. You didn’t know if you had a great song or the world’s worst song in the world, you couldn’t tell for a long time. But when it came out, it sure was a blessing…it’s one of the first songs that I think Blake had where his personality started showing up.”
[RELATED: Rory Feek Readies Himself for Unchartered Territory on New Album ‘Gentle Man’]
2. “A Little More Country Than That” by Easton Corbin
Written by Rory Feek, Wynn Varble, and Don Poythress
Following the success of Blake Shelton’s “Some Beach,” Rory Feek struck gold again with Easton Corbin‘s “A Little More Country Than That.” The song is an unabashed tribute to country life with such lyrics as: Picture a small town with an old hound / Laying out front of the court house / While the old men chew the fat / I’m a little more country than that.
“Wynn and I are really country…We live the lifestyle. We really miss and love all of that stuff we talk about in the song,” Feek explained to The Boot. “So we were just sitting around talking about the simple stuff that we love, and the song just came out in about 45 minutes. I like the ones that come a little quicker, because it feels more like magic. And I like magic.”
The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2009, making Corbin the first solo male artist to send his debut single to No. 1 since Dierks Bentley did with “What Was I Thinkin'” in 2003.
3. “Whisper” by Bill Anderson ft. Joey + Rory
Written by Bill Anderson and Rory Feek
Legendary songwriter Bill Anderson had an expansive roster of collaborators on his 2014 album, Life!, including Willie Nelson and Vince Gill. Joey + Rory also made the cut, appearing on “Whisper” which Feek co-wrote with Anderson.
The song casts Joey + Rory as a couple who are at their wit’s end with each other. Joey Feek takes the lead on vocals in the first verse, with her husband in the second verse, while Anderson stays true to his nickname Whisperin’ Bill Anderson by coming in as the voice of reason. If you want to make your point / And really get through / Don’t raise your voice / Just do what I do / Whisper, Anderson literally whispers in the chorus.
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
