“IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME” FOR CMA VOCAL DUO HOPEFUL JOEY+RORY

11/05/09

Holiday Single and Merry Kidsmas CD To Partner with CMT One Country

Nashville, Tenn (November 3, 2009) -- Known for bringing beautiful harmonies, authenticity and romance back to country music, husband/wife duo Joey+Rory are offering their take on holiday traditions this November with their poignant single “It’s Christmas Time” and a unique children’s album from songwriter think-tank The Song Trust entitled Merry Kidsmas.

The couple is partnering with CMT One Country for both projects. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of “It’s Christmas Time” will be donated to the local affiliate of Feeding America, The Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, and a portion of the proceeds from Merry Kidsmas will benefit the USO through the end of 2009.

While the single and album are two distinctive works, the message is the same. “We’re incredibly grateful for an amazing year and hope to share some of that good fortune this holiday season. CMT helped launch our career, so we’re really excited to team-up with CMT One Country in the spirit of giving,” says Joey.

The Joey+Rory single “It’s Christmas Time” is a tune written during a stay at Joey’s family farmhouse in Indiana. It will be released digitally on November 24 and has been serviced to country radio for adds on November 16.

“Just sitting in the house where Joey grew up made me think about all the Christmases she spent there,” Rory explains. “All the trees they picked out and decorated, all the gifts wrapped while the kids tried to sneak downstairs, all the Christmas dinners cooked and the last-minute guests who showed up at their door. I woke up early in the morning before anyone else, pulled out my guitar and wrote the song with all that in mind.” The single was produced by bluegrass legend Carl Jackson, who also produced the duo’s debut album.

The second holiday project, Merry Kidsmas (Giantslayer Records/S1 Songs/Welk Music Group), is a 12-song collection sung by everyday kids of all ages and created by The Song Trust. Founded in Nashville TN, The Song Trust is a collaborative group committed to creating and delivering music from the perspective where the song, not the singer, is the star. True to concept, Merry Kidsmas lists only writer credits and no singer credits.

The first track on the album, “Bring Him Home Santa,” was originally released to country radio in December 2007 causing an immediate national reaction. Sung by an anonymous 6-year old girl asking Santa to bring her father home for Christmas, the single shot to #29 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart, spawned a viral internet video that received over 600,000 views and solicited thousands of comments from families with loved ones in the military. Following that success, The Song Trust spent the next year finding or creating an album’s worth of songs that would continue to look at the Christmas season from a child’s perspective, to be sung by kids of all ages, resulting in the Merry Kidsmas CD.

The album features 9 original songs co-written by members of The Song Trust, including the future holiday standards “Bring Him Home Santa” and “Box of Rocks,” both of which will be released to radio November 16. The CD also offers new takes on the holiday favorites “(All I Want For Christmas is My) Two Front Teeth,” Wudolph (the Red Nosed Reindeer)” and the “Little Drummer Boy.” Merry Kidsmas was co-produced by Tim Johnson and will be available in stores on October 27th.

ABOUT JOEY+RORY
CMA nominated husband and wife duo Joey+Rory first performed together for an audition of CMT’s hit series Can You Duet in early 2008. Bringing beautiful harmonies, top-notch songwriting and their natural joyfulness, authenticity and romance to traditional country music, they quickly became fan favorites and placed 3rd in the final episode. As finalists, their rendition of “Cheater Cheater” earned them a huge response and went on to become a successful first single on their debut album, The Life of a Song.

Signed to Vanguard/Sugar Hill Records alongside a venerable roster of alternative country, bluegrass and Americana greats, Joey+Rory’s musical journey together is just beginning. Already they have garnered industry success with their ACM Top Vocal Duo nomination and their nomination for Country Music Association’s Vocal Duo of the Year for the upcoming CMA Awards. The duo and their music is featured in a number of national television ads for Overstock.com. Their latest commercial features their hound, Rufus.

When not on the road performing, Joey continues to wait tables and bake breads at Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse, a restaurant she and her sister-in-law own outside of Nashville. Rory heads to music row where he pens award-winning hits at Giantslayer Publishing. He recently won ASCAP songwriting awards for “I Will” by Jimmy Wayne and “You Can Let Go Now” by Crystal Shawanda. Other penned hits include “Some Beach” for Blake Shelton and “The Chain of Love” for Clay Walker.

ABOUT CMT ONE COUNTRY
CMT ONE COUNTRY, CMT's pro-social initiative, was launched in the fall of 2005 to promote civic participation and inspire CMT viewers to take action and bring about important change in their communities. CMT One Country partners include Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest), Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Habitat for Humanity, Hands On Network and the USO (United Service Organizations), and Children’s Miracle Network. Led by Advisory Board members President Jimmy Carter, Maya Angelou and General Colin Powell, whose combined service to America is legendary, CMTONECOUNTRY.com aims to offer tools to help anyone start making a difference immediately. For more information visit CMTONECOUNTRY.com.

ABOUT SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF MIDDLE TENNESSEESecond Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee feeds hungry people and works to solve hunger issues in the communities is serves. The Food Bank, which is part of the Feeding America network, distributes food and other products to approximately 400 community food partner agencies in 46 counties in Middle and West Tennessee. Partners include food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, child care facilities, senior centers and youth enrichment programs. For more information about how you can fight hunger and feed hope in your community, visit www.secondharvestmidtn.org.

ABOUT USO
The USO (United Service Organizations) lifts the spirits of America's armed forces and their families. We provide a touch of home to troops wherever they serve through centers at airports and military bases around the world, top quality entertainment and innovative programs and services tailored to meet the needs of troops and their families.

The USO is not a government agency and relies on the generosity of the American people. The USO is also supported by Worldwide Strategic Partners AT&T Inc., BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, Clear Channel Communications, The Coca-Cola Company, Gallery Furniture, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, S & K Sales Co. and TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Other corporate donors, including the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-11381), have joined millions of individual donors to support the USO. For more information, please visit www.uso.org.

ABOUT S1 SONGS
S1 Songs is a global independent publisher with a portfolio of more than 30,000 songs including the recent acquisition of Sheryl Crow music publishing catalog and a co-publishing deal on her future works. Headquartered in London and Dublin, S1 Songs’ US President and Global Head of Creative is Neil Gillis. The Nashville office is headed by Pat Finch.

For press materials, media contacts can log on to www.frontpagepublicity.com

To hear "It's Christmas Time," "Box of Rocks" and "Bring Him Home Santa," visit http://www.frontpagepublicity.com/joeyrory/audio_holiday09.php

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