Joey+Rory Return With Two Christmas Projects

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.

To hear "It's Christmas Time," "Box of Rocks" and "Bring Him Home Santa," visit HERE.

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.”