(The Making Of GRAMMY-Winning Recordings series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of music's biggest recordings. In this installment, Rory Feek of Joey+Rory details the making of Hymns, which won Best Roots Gospel Album at the 59th GRAMMY Awards. Feek recorded the album with his wife, Joey Feek, who died of cancer on March 4, 2016.)

Joey finding out [in the early summer of 2015] that the cancer had returned was a big part of the decision to record Hymns. We believed at the time that she would ultimately beat it, so at first this wasn't meant to be her last record. Making it during such a difficult time was going to help get her mind off the pain and focus on the possibility. 

The most obvious challenges were finding the time to record it. Joey almost didn't recover from the surgery, so just getting through that and going into the studio to track the album with the players was difficult. She had lost a lot of weight and had very little strength. But it was important to her, so she pushed through.

After that, it was a matter of finding a creative way to record her vocals. We did a lot of them in hotel rooms — me recording her on my iMac with a mic that I'd brought with us while she did chemo and radiation. Some of them we recorded during the taping of a special we did [in] September [2015].

Her drive to complete the project was strong, and she loved performing in front of an audience. For a short time, while she was onstage, the cancer battle disappeared and it was just her and me sharing our hearts with others. Joe West, who mixed and co-produced [the album], ended up pulling some of her vocals from that night for the final album because those were the only full versions.

We recorded in Larry Beaird's studio in Nashville, Tenn., over the course of one long day. The musicians who played on the record were all friends and they had been following Joey's journey and knew what this album meant to her, so they played their hearts out. I worked on all the art via email with the ZinePak team and Joey helped me choose the photos we used. 

We never considered winning awards or GRAMMYs. We knew it was an album full of old gospel hymns, so I'm still surprised that over a half-million albums have been sold since it came out last February. 

Joey and I did watch the GRAMMYs last year in February, just as the Hymns album was coming out, and she insisted: "If we were to get nominated for a GRAMMY next year honey, you have to promise me that you'll go." I told her that I would and then she said, "And guess what? ... If we win, I'm gonna know before you will."

All my favorite moments making the album have to do with our baby daughter Indiana being in the room when Joey was singing. I knew that Joey made this record for her baby and for our older girls. And for others who need to hear the words in those old hymns, words that comforted Joey all through her life, including at the end. 

It's almost a year now since Joey passed away and there isn't a week or day that goes by that we don't listen to the album. It was playing while Indy ate her oatmeal this morning and when "I Surrender All" ended, Indy said, "Mama," started clapping and saying, "Yea!" It's precious and heartbreaking all at the same time.

I am in awe of the story that God has let me be part of, just as Joey was in awe of it. I'm so proud of her. For the music she's made and legacy she's left, but even more for the lives she's touched and encouraged, including mine.

Want more GRAMMY content? Read the making of David Bowie's Blackstar

(Roy Trakin is currently a senior news editor at All Access, a past contributor to a number of legendary rock magazines [remember those?] and a die-hard Cantonese Chinese food fanatic [love crispy noodles, duck sauce and hot mustard].)