On a pleasant spring afternoon in 2016, a horse-drawn wagon carrying the body of beloved country gospel singer Joey Feek could be seen moving slowly toward the barn on the family farm. Inside, a small group of friends and family had gathered to honor Joey, whose music career and valiant battle with cancer played out on the hugely popular “Joey + Rory Show.”

Among those present was Limestone County native and Joey’s personal friend, Bradley Walker.

“The night that Joey died, I got a call from Rory,” Walker said. “He told me that he wanted me to come up to the family farm and sing ‘Leave it There’ at her funeral. When you get a request like that, the only answer is, ‘Yes.’”

As folks gathered around Joey’s simple wood casket cut from trees that once grew on the family farm, Walker began to sing, in his deep baritone voice, the lyrics to the song Joey had selected before she died.

“She was such a strong woman and had such a strong faith,” Walker said. “When I came to the second verse, it says, ‘If your body suffers pain, and your health you can’t regain … Jesus knows the pain you feel, he can save and he can heal.’ I was singing for her, but I was singing that song in my mind as a message from her.”

“I think that is the last thing she wanted to say at the gravesite, to leave it there at the feet of Jesus,” he added.

Bill and Gloria Gaither were also at the funeral and heard Walker sing.

Bill was so impressed by Walker’s voice, he invited him to record an album under the Gaither Music label. This led to last year’s release of “Call Me Old-Fashioned,” which hit the Top 10 on the country album charts and included “In The Time That You Gave Me,” a touching duet with Joey that was recorded shortly before her death.

At the beginning of the year, Gaither Music Company came to Walker with an idea for a new album featuring a compilation of classical hymns. He was thrilled.

“I grew up singing these hymns,” Walker said. “Each one has a special place in my life and means a lot to me and a lot of other folks I know.”

On Oct. 6, Walker released “Blessed: Hymns and Songs of Faith,” featuring vocals from music legends Vince Gill, Allison Kraus and the Oak Ridge Boys and including favorites such as “I’ll Fly Away,” “Because He Lives” and “One Day at a Time.”

Walker got his start when he was 4, at the long-running Athens Bible School Musical Explosion variety show, where he belted out the Oak Ridge Boy’s “Elvira” from his wheelchair. Born with muscular dystrophy, Walker has been confined to a wheelchair all his life but said, “I never look at my disability as something that should hinder me.”

His next big break came when he was 10 and also involved the Oak Ridge Boys. They invited him to perform on the nationally syndicated television show, “Nashville Now,” where he sang George Strait’s “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?”

Shortly after graduating from East Limestone High School in 1996, he joined a bluegrass band. In 2006, he cut his first album, “Highway of Dreams,” which earned him a Male Vocalist of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Association.

“Then there was this 10-year gap in my career,” Walker said. “The demands of my job and the challenges I sometimes face being in a wheelchair kept me from touring as much as I needed to to promote my music career.”

Walker works as a materials coordinator at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant.

“But out of Joey’s death, God brings forth this amazing opportunity for me to be able to work with Bill and Gloria Gaither,” Walker said. “Before, my concern was always having to be on the road. Now, I have this platform where I can record albums and perform on their concert DVDs.”

As for a future album, Walker would like to make a tribute album to all the country music heroes who have shaped his life and career. He said that he may even make room for “Elvira.”