Husband and wife duo Joey and Rory are already getting in the Christmas spirit as they gear up to release their new Christmas album, 'A Farmhouse Christmas,' this fall. The project will be released on Vanguard/Sugar Hill Records and will include 12 tracks, 10 of which are either new songs or cuts never released as Christmas songs.

"We made this record with hopes of trying to bring the listener into our home and share a small piece of our world at Christmas time with them," Joey says.

"Christmas means so much to Joey and me," Rory adds. "It brings on so many feelings that other times of the year just don't. We seem to laugh -- and eat -- more, think deeper, reminisce more, and for a short time, most of our priorities all to come into perspective".

"Some people might wonder why we haven't filled this record with more of the Christmas standards," Rory continues. "Well, the truth is, we feel like that's what everyone seems to do, and we'd rather try to add a new song or two to the list of holiday classics that people listen to every Christmas, rather than just give them another take on the songs we all know and love."

The album contains plenty of holiday humor, including the Garth Brooks and Kent Blazy-penned 'I Know What Santa's Getting for Christmas,' and the entertaining 'What the Hell, It's the Holidays.' There are plenty of tunes written by the duo as well, including the spend-the-holiday-at-the-beach-themed anthem, 'Let It Snow (Somewhere Else),' which the couple wrote with James Slater and Tim Johnson.

The album's opening tune, 'It's Christmas Time,' is a song Rory wrote during a visit to his wife's family farmhouse in Indiana. "I woke up one morning and found myself thinking about what it must have been like when Joey was a little girl, waking up all those Christmas mornings in that very house."

'Away in a Manger' and 'Blue Christmas' are the only two solo standard holiday tunes on 'A Farmhouse Christmas.' Joey and Rory also recorded Merle Haggard's 'If We Make It Through December,' which was never meant to be a Christmas song, but the duo felt it fit the album perfectly. "We can't begin to tell you what an honor it is to have Merle singing on it with us," said Joey. "There are some dreams that even when they come true, you still think you must be dreaming ... and this is one."

Joey and Rory are working on a full-blown Christmas tour to accompany the new album, which will be available October 11.

Watch the Joey and Rory 'That's Important to Me' Video

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