At 65, Jake Morrison had weathered plenty of storms in his four decades in country music. He’d survived the industry’s ups and downs, the changing sounds, and the endless tours that took him far from home. But nothing had prepared him for the conversation he’d had with his wife three months ago—the one that changed everything.

Now, standing in the doorway of their Tennessee farmhouse kitchen, watching Rose humming softly as she tended to her herb garden through the window, Jake felt that familiar tightness in his chest. The morning light caught the silver in her hair, and for a moment, he could see the young woman who’d captivated Nashville in the late 1960s with her crystalline voice and unwavering faith.

Rose Catherine Wells had been country music royalty before she’d even turned twenty-five. Her debut single “Heaven’s Door” had climbed to number one and stayed there for six weeks in 1968. By 1972, she’d won three Grammy Awards and had been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Her voice could break hearts and mend them in the same breath, and her songs spoke to the soul of America’s heartland.