Country Next: DEK of Hearts

In just over two years as a band, DEK of Hearts have gone from being music-loving college friends who cut their teeth on the Broadway circuit to one of country music’s fastest-rising acts. Comprised of Dylan John, Emily Clapp, and Kollin Bailey, the group has quickly built a reputation for their soaring harmonies, genre-blending sound, and undeniable onstage chemistry.

The trio’s momentum has only continued to grow in recent months. After winning the State of Tennessee’s 2025 Tennessee Songwriters Week competition and captivating audiences as finalists on Season 28 of NBC’s The Voice, the group reached another major milestone when they made their Grand Ole Opry debut on May 29, 2026. Their performances of “Dear Ole Whiskey” and newest single “Crazy Lady” earned two standing ovations from the crowd before they later returned to the stage to join Carly Pearce in singing “Boondocks.”

With a name derived from the first letter of each member’s first name, DEK of Hearts are proving that they are just getting started. Fans can find the group bringing their growing catalog of music on the road throughout 2026 while serving as direct support for Carly Pearce, Brett Young, and Niko Moon.

Emily was on vocal rest during DEK of Hearts’ interview with Country Now, but her bandmates Dylan and Kollin opened up their early days as a trio, how their bond with Carly Pearce led them to fulfilling a huge dream, what that moment in the historic venue meant to them, new music and more.

How did you initially meet and decide to form a trio?

KOLLIN: We all met at Trevecca Nazarene University here in town. It’s so funny. We all came at different times. Dylan came as a freshman. Emily transferred to the sophomore and I transferred as a junior, but we were all the same year. And so our senior year we traveled on…The school had two traveling worship teams. So Emily and I traveled together on a team and then Dylan traveled with Emily’s now husband. And so we traveled kind of the South and did camps and played at churches. And then for our degrees, we had to have a senior recital. And so for my senior recital, I did a country concert with Rhonda Vincent and then I just asked them since they were my friends to sing backup. And we sang “What If I Never Get Over You” by Lady A and people were like, “Hey, there’s something there when all three of you are singing, you should chase it.” That was May of 2023. We didn’t form the trio or really talk about it for a couple months and then we formed and debuted as Dek of Hearts on April 24th of 2024. So we’ve been doing this for a little over two years. 

At what point did you guys decide we’re going to take this to the next level and audition for The Voice? 

DYLAN: Like Kollin was saying, after the trio started, we really did a lot of workshopping at the bars and stuff in Nashville. So as we continued to build a good set and build our chemistry together at…we loved to do movie nights together and Emily and I love to cook so we’ll go back and forth. But we were doing a movie night and we saw that you had a day or two left to audition for The Voice. So we sat down and did “Heads Carolina.” And honestly, we didn’t think much of it other than like, “Hey, this might be a good next step.” Not that this was ever the dream, but I mean it sure was beating like, Oh, the three, four hour stuff is great, but unless you’re really cut out for that and you want to do that, we wanted something more out of what we were doing, not just to stay, but how can we continue to grow and get better? So it was just a cool next step. 

Whose idea was it to name your group DEK of Hearts?

KOLLIN: So we actually debuted as Good Hope Road for one show, which was the street my grandparents’ first house was on and they were living on love. And then as we got together, it was like, that’s only special to me, not for Dylan and Emily as well. And so somebody came to one of our bar gigs and they threw out Deco and then Art Deco and they’re like, “Something’s there.” And then we were like, “Dek.” And then Heart Street is the street that we would load in on and leave on at our school when we were on the worship teams. And so that made a whole lot more sense and was a little bit more fitting to all three of us. 

What were you hoping to accomplish when you really started to gain traction as a trio?

KOLLIN: Looking back, we were so naive and had no clue what we were doing. We really thought we were making money once we got out of the tips only bars to the guarantee bars. And ignorance was bliss because if we would’ve known what we know now, we probably wouldn’t have kept going and been so encouraged while we were doing it. But I mean, obviously our dream when we started would be like, “Man, we would love to play the Grand Ole Opry.” And that was my biggest dream since I was a little boy. As we formed the trio, that was our biggest dream. It’s so funny with us just making our Grand Ole Opry debut, and they just asked us to come a second time. So that’s so exciting.

How have your dreams evolved since those early days?

KOLLIN: Now it’s like, okay, now what? We just went to CMA Fest and we’re like, Nissan Stadium would be awesome and we want to be nominated for a CMA and ACM award and all of the things. And it’s so interesting, as a group navigating the country scene, it’s actually so much different than solo artists. So that’s been fun to workshop and look at other artists. Obviously our hero is Lady A, they paved the way for trios like us. And so yeah, that’s been interesting. Our goals have definitely changed, especially with us reaching our biggest dream so quick. Now it’s like, “Hey, we can’t stop here. We got to keep going.”

What’s been the most challenging part about working and growing as a trio?

DYLAN: So we had always told ourselves right off the bat when we started, if it starts to affect the friendship, then we don’t want to keep doing music together because I was like, the friendship and the relationship is a lot more important than the music thing. It’s cool that we get to do it together, but also just staying rooted in our faith and making sure that we’re supporting each other, looking out for each other and encouraging each other. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really cool when we all moved to Nashville. We all wanted to do music, but it looked really different. And so I think just constantly when you have rough days or you’re upset or you’re just like, “I’m just tired. I’m tired of traveling. I want to be home.” It can start affecting people. I think just constantly coming back to remembering like, “Hey, let’s look back and see how the Lord has been blessing what we’re doing and being thankful.” And it kind of reunites and puts you back on the same vision. But yeah, it’s just been awesome. We’ve been together for a little over two years and to see how the Lord has fast tracked a lot of what we’ve been doing, just bumping us into the right people, us trying to grow those relationships, like meeting the bar managers, meeting agents, just everyone. You just never know who you’re going to run into again. So we’re just trying to make it work and be good to people along the way. 

How did you react when Carly Pearce invited you to make your Grand Ole Opry debut?

DYLAN: So being on the road with Carly that last night in Canada, she’s like, “Hey, come sit down and let’s just talk.” It was really sweet of her to take the time to do that and kind of tell us more of her story. It just felt super casual and comfortable. But along that conversation, she had mentioned, “Oh, have you guys played the Opry?” We told her, “No, it’s our biggest dream.” And she just kind of looked at her bass player and was like, “Okay, okay.” And then so it was just a couple days later and they’re like, “Hey, we want you guys to come in for the WSM interview.” And Kollin had done this stuff before with his former boss, Rhonda Vincent and Kollin’s like, “It’s never that long. We’re not going to go into it thinking what it’s going to be, but something might happen.” So walking in there and then having her come in the room and surprise us, it was really cool that she just followed through with her word and she really believes in us. 

She could say something and not do anything, but her actions were definitely speaking for that. But yeah, that night was just such a rush. It was great to have all of our families there to support us and be backstage and look at the history and just something really cool to experience, especially someone who didn’t grow up listening to the Opry. You’re just amazed to see how many different kinds of acts now with different people like Sabrina Carpenter and Steven Curtis Chapman. There’s just so much history in there. It’s really cool.

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Kollin, since you had previously worked as a backstage tour guide at the Opry, what did that moment mean to you?

KOLLIN: I had seen a lot of Opry shows. I worked for a Bluegrass artist named Rhonda Vincent and I went into it like, “Kollin, manage your expectations because you’ve seen a lot of debuts and there are so many different things that can happen on your debut night.” I mean, something that we were just so honored and surprised by was the two standing ovations that we got. When I had dreamed about it, I never got to that point in the dream. We’re at the end of the song people stand up sometimes. And so I mean, what a surreal night it was. My family, we all talk about it and it’s like, seriously guys, Carly was the MVP that night. She tee’d it up so well to us, shared her platform with us. It was so sweet to us. I mean, it surpassed all of our expectations and I cannot think of a better night that we’ve ever had. 

You performed your newest single, “Crazy Lady” while in the circle. Tell me a bit more about this song and the inspiration behind the story.

DYLAN: We’ve done a lot of cinematic stuff and Emily’s husband is really good and gifted with that. And so it’s a lot of fun to be able to try different things and see what the audience likes. But yeah, that song, it’s not anything that we’ve been through. Kollin and I haven’t really ever dated a “Crazy Lady,” not planning on it, but I just think it’s a fun song. We’ve done it all. We love “Dear Ole Whiskey” and we’ve done things that it’s super important to highlight and things that people go through, but also be like, “Hey, you can cry with us, but you can also have fun with us at our shows.”

 Is there anything you can tease in terms of new music?

KOLLIN: We’re super excited to be back at the Opry…It’s July 7th, which is so funny because that is, to the day, a year from our blind audition to now, which crazy. And Opry had no idea that was the date because that’s not necessarily public knowledge. I know that we will be teasing a new song there. It probably won’t be our next release. It’ll probably be the second release, but we have a single coming out in mid to late July and then we’ll be releasing more music every six to eight weeks and we’re super excited.

Since you are currently performing across the U.S as direct support for Carly Pearce, Brett Young, and Niko Moon, what has been one of your favorite moments in the live shows lately?

DYLAN: I mean, I think those collaborations are cool. I don’t know if it’ll ever get better than those moments with Carly. I’m not expecting that to happen a lot, but I also love too, we’re doing a lot more full-band stuff now and we have a great band and it’s nice to be able to rely on them and bring them into what we’re doing. But I do love like sometimes during the set, it’ll be just the three of us. I love those moments just because that’s where it started. 

KOLLIN: I also love the storytelling aspect. If you come to a show, people are always like, “Man, you guys have the stories not just to tee up the songs, but getting to hear…” We talk about the good, the bad, the ugly. We want people to laugh and we want people to know that we’ve been through things and we want to give people hope. And so I love how versatile our stories can be and showing…I know we’re only like 25 years old, but we’ve lived quite a bit of life in 25 years. And so it’s been so fun to be able to share the stories of our lives and relate to people in really hard situations. So I love that. And of course, when we’re up there on stage, we’re sweating and we’re giving everything we’ve got. We love that so much. So yes, I am so excited about our live shows. 

Fans can follow DEK of Hearts on Instagram.