The Dryes' Katelyn Drye was just 23 years old when her dear friend Lauren died, and she found herself questioning the very idea of God above.
“I remember my mom coming over to the apartment that [my husband] Derek and I lived in at the time, and it was the first time ever in my life that I literally looked at mom and said that I just didn’t know,” Katelyn tells PEOPLE. “If He was real, why would this have happened?”
And as usual, her mom had an answer.
“I remember her telling me, ‘I know that it’s so hard to understand right now, but there is a God and He’s close to your heart right now.”
It was not only a reminder that Katelyn desperately needed, but also a reminder that now rings through the entirety of The Dryes’ new single “Mama’s Do,” premiering exclusively on PEOPLE.
“Basically, the whole song asks, ‘Where would we be without our moms or the motherly figures in our life?’,” explains Katelyn. “It paints a good picture of that unconditional love, but it also touches on the wondering that we all do, wondering if He is really listening.”
“We didn’t want to just paint a pretty bow around it,” says Derek Drye, whose mother died when he was just 6 months old. “We wanted to be as honest as we could and just keep that endearment as well.”
Derek and Katelyn Dryes.Sean Hagwell
Written alongside Grammy-nominated songwriter Michael Farren and Tiffany Goss, the acclaimed husband and wife duoboth agree that “Mama’s Do” is a song that felt “very true” to them from the very start.
“I remember Tiffany saying, literally out of the blue, ‘Lord, I feel like my prayers don’t work half the time, but I know my mom’s do,” remembers Derek. “From there, it just spilled out. Tiffany thought it would take a couple days to write, but literally we wrote it in an hour.”
“I literally get emotional every time I hear it,” says Katelyn, who played it acoustically for the first time during a writer’s round in Nashville earlier this year, with her mom in attendance. “That night, I thought I would get really emotional, but I actually held it together and it was a beautiful moment.”
Certainly,Mother’s Daycomes with a multitude of emotions for The Dryes. “My mom passed away when I was 8 months old,” explains Derek quietly. “But I stillfeelher prayers even though she’s not even here.”
And this seems to be a time when so many prayers are being answered for The Dryes, who are still feeling high following their 2022 run onThe Voice, under the watchful eye of coachBlake Shelton.
“When we stepped into [The Voice], I don’t think we realized the impact that it would have on people from all over the world, honestly,” says Katelyn, who first made musical waves with her husband back in 2018 via the couple’s debut single “Amen.” “It’s always been our hope that our music would speak to people and makes people feel better. The show definitely helped us do that even more.”
Add that to their spot on the “Heads Carolina Tails California” tour with country music icon Jo Dee Mesina and their exclusive worldwide booking signing with Wasserman Music, and The Dryes certainly seem to find themselves on the ultimate professional joy ride.
And while The Dryes admit that as a couple, they still have some very special prayers waiting to be answered, they are fully confident that someone is listening.
“We may not have everything figured out, but we know that God is there,” concludes Katelyn. “We both have honestly never felt more content in what God’s doing and the way our life is being laid out right now. We’ve learned when we loosen our grip and just kind of let go, that’s when all the beauty happens.”
source: people.com
