Belmont juniors Emma Harvey and Kel Taylor met as freshmen while in the same Tower Team group during Belmont’s orientation. Both were soloists at the time, but, as they became friends, they also started a musical journey together.
Harvey and Taylor began writing together the fall of their sophomore year.
“Emma is so strong with guitar, riffs, the musicality and I have too many lyrics. It works really well,” said Taylor.
The duo officially launched their band Sawyer in March of 2015 with their single “Letting Go.”
Harvey and Taylor both came to Belmont with a musical background. Harvey has been playing guitar since age 9.
“There wasn’t a time when I didn’t have guitar calluses,” Harvey said.
Around that same age, Taylor began writing a cappella songs including a comical tune, “We’re Too Young to Date.” They each led worship throughout high school and agree they discovered more of who they are as musicians while in college.
The process of becoming a duo seemed only natural. Starting out as friends, the relationship grew quickly.
Today Harvey and Taylor go to school together, have Sawyer, live together, are small group leaders together and are, on top of it all, best friends.
“Communication is the biggest thing and it’s been really good because we’re pretty good at communicating,” Taylor said.
In fact, Harvey said, “sometimes we think we can give marriage counseling.”
The girls credit not only each other but the rest of their band for Sawyer’s success.
“Our band, the guys we play with, we are such a family. We love our band; it is such an unanswered prayer. They’re greater people than they are musicians and they’re really good musicians,” said Taylor.
When looking to the future, the two would love to make music for a living and go on tour. In the meantime, they are focusing on having fun, knowing that their music is an offering and are excited to perform at the Urban-Pop Showcase.
Article by Taylor Krantz. Photo by Marisa Boras.