Rory and Joey Feek Nominated for a 2017 GRAMMY Following Joey's Death in March

Country and bluegrass duo Rory and Joey Feek have been nominated for a 2017 GRAMMY for their album Hymns That Are Important To Us.

The news is bittersweet, given Joey's death on March 4 after a battle with cervical and colorectal cancer. Nominations for the 2017 GRAMMY Awards were announced on Tuesday morning, with Hymns earning a nod in the "Best Roots Gospel Album" category. The two released the album on Feb. 12, marking their seventh and final studio album together.

The Feeks were also nominated for a GRAMMY this year for their song "If I Needed You" in the "Best Duo/Group Country Vocal Performance" category. However, Little Big Town ended up taking home the GRAMMY for their song "Girl Crush."

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"When you love country music as much as we do, to even be nominated for a Grammy for Best Duo/Group Country Vocal Performance is like winning the lottery," 51-year-old Rory told ET last January.

Blake Shelton was also up for a GRAMMY that year in the same category for his song "Lonely Tonight," but tweeted that he would like Joey and Rory to win. "The courage that they as a family have displayed -- it's inspirational," Shelton told ET when we talked to him last November. "It's sad, but it's special at the same time."

Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014, just months after giving birth to the couple's daughter Indiana, who was born with Down syndrome. In October 2015, Joey shared the news that her cancer was terminal, and that she had decided to stop treatment. She was 40 years old when she died in March.

In May, Rory told Billboard that the two never treated Hymnslike their final project together.

"We had unwavering hope," Rory explained. "I knew it was hard for her, but we always treated everything like, 'This is a season, and we're going to get better.' She kept wanting to sing, even when it was hard for her to get onstage. Not because she wanted to make money or get applause, but because she wanted to share her music."

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Rory celebrated his first anniversary without his beloved late wife in June, and opened up on his blog about how he spent what would have been the couple's 14th wedding anniversary.

Watch below:

Rory Feek Pays Tribute to Late Wife Joey on Their 15th Wedding Anniversary

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