Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and New York Times bestselling author Rory Feek is kicking off a new chapter that's sure to thrill fans who have spent years following his music, love, and life. Five years after launching a personal blog to share stories of his family, including his late wife, Joey, and their daughter, Indiana, Rory will turn that blog into a weekly television series on RFD-TV. In addition to this, Rory has stepped into the role of Chief Creative Officer, where he will develop and oversee all-new production for the network.
Rory first started his blog in the beginning of 2014 as a way to capture and remember the special moments in his personal life as they were happening. It quickly developed a powerful online presence with nearly 2.5 million followers. This Life I Live, the television series based on the blog will begin airing on RFD-TV the first week of January 2020. Like the blog, Rory says that the series will take the daily stories of his life and explore not only what's happening, but why it's happening. This Life I Live will run weekly on cable as well as be featured on multiple digital platforms.
It won't be the first time Rory has appeared in a personal TV series; he and Joey were featured in the RFD-TV series, The Joey+Rory Show, that originally ran from 2012 to 2014 and continues to re-run each week. The made-from-home variety show showcased the couple's music, their family-owned cafe, and their friends and community. It followed their lives for two years as they traveled the world performing together and lived life on their Tennessee farm. They ended the filming of their show in early 2014 when their daughter, Indiana, was born. Soon after, Rory began writing and sharing his blog.
As Chief Creative Officer of RFD-TV, Rory hopes to bring a variety of stories into viewers' lives - from shows about homesteading and small farm life to comedy and cooking. His goal is to provide a hub for rural and urban viewers alike to find a place to gather, slow down, and share the timeless values and stories that unite everyone. Rory also plans to shepherd RFD-TV into filling the void left by The Nashville Network (TNN), a now-defunct cable network that offered a platform in the 80s and 90s for the country music industry to reach Middle America today. Rory will continue writing books and playing live shows on his farm and around the country and is considering this opportunity expansion of his already creative storytelling.
"Being a much larger part of RFD-TV is an incredible opportunity for me. I'm someone who, with my wife, has seen first-hand how having an authentic show on RFD can change your life, your business and inspire others. This new role gives me the opportunity to help others experience the same thing," Rory says.
Although Rory will oversee a great deal of the network's creative department and programming from its Nashville Music Row offices, he will also be doing a large part of the production in a new studio and sound stage facility that's in the works in his hometown community of Columbia, Tennessee.
"We are very proud of our primetime programming on RFD-TV, and we have been looking for a way the last several years to really bring that programming to the next level," said Patrick Gottsch, Founder and President of RFD-TV. "With Rory joining our team as the Chief Creative Officer, I am confident that both Rory and his team will be the answer that we have been looking for. His creativity and storytelling will really resonate well with our audiences."
Rory is excited about the immense potential for his personal new series as well as the creative direction of the network. "We have the greatest storytellers in the world in town, here on Music Row and in the surrounding communities," he says. "My goal is to find and showcase some of the best stories and offer a platform for the world to see them. In Nashville, the motto has always been, 'it all begins with a song'... but even before that, I think it all starts with a 'story'."
"I don't actually have cable TV and haven't had a TV for most of the last fifteen years, but if I did have one, it would mostly be turned to RFD. It's one of the few networks that has driven programming of values, rather than the monetary value of programming. Although Patrick and I, and our whole team, know there's still much to do, an incredible foundation is in place for something special to happen. And I'd like to think that this is the time to do it."
Rory spoke in more detail about his new opportunity and his life, in his latest blog post here.
Additionally, to view the trailer for his upcoming tv show This Life I Live click here.
About Rory Feek:
Feek is a New York Times bestselling author and Grammy-winning singer and songwriter. He is most well-known as one-half of Joey+Rory, a country music duo with his late wife, Joey. The couple captured the attention of America originally when they were featured on the CMT series Can You Duet, and captured its heart a few years later as Rory chronicled their love story, the birth of their daughter, Indiana, and Joey's cancer battle on his blog, "This Life I Live," as well as their preparation for her passing in March 2016 at age 40. Since, he's released a documentary, To Joey, With Love, and a memoir, This Life I Live: One Man's Extraordinary, Ordinary Life and the Woman Who Changed It Forever (Thomas Nelson). He has three daughters and lives on a farm south of Nashville with the youngest, five-year-old Indiana, where they recently built a one-room schoolhouse for Indy and other local children to attend.
About Rural Media Group, Inc. (RMG):
Rural Media Group, Inc. is the world's leading provider of multimedia content dedicated to the rural and Western lifestyle. With a mission of reconnecting "city with country," RMG is the parent company of RFD-TV, RURAL RADIO Channel 147 on SiriusXM radio, The Cowboy Channel, and RFD-TV The Magazine. RMG networks are distributed to more than 100 million homes worldwide by DBS, telco and cable systems including DISH Network, DIRECTV®, AT&T U-Verse, Mediacom, Charter Spectrum, Suddenlink, Cox, and more than 600 independent rural cable systems. Corporate headquarters and broadcast operations are in Nashville, Tennessee.
About RFD-TV:
RFD-TV is the flagship network for Rural Media Group. Launched in December of 2000, RFD-TV is the nation's first 24-hour television network featuring programming focused on the agribusiness, equine and the rural lifestyles, along with traditional country music and entertainment. RFD-TV produces six hours of live news each weekday in support of rural America and is a leading independent cable channel available in more than 50 million homes on DISH Network, DIRECTV®, AT&T U-Verse, Charter Spectrum, Cox, Mediacom, Suddenlink, and many other rural cable systems. In addition, RFD-TV can be streamed online via The Country Club at rfdcc.com, DIRECTV NOW, Roku, and Sling TV's Heartland Extra package. For more information, please visit RFDTV.com.
Facebook: @OfficialRFDTV | Twitter: @OfficialRFDTV | Instagram: @RFDTV
For Media Inquiries:
Dawn Kamerling
The Press House
dawn@thepresshouse.com
646.322.4903