Country-pop trio DEK of Hearts believes ministry can sound like three-part harmony in a Nashville bar.
“Just because we’re in a bar doesn’t mean that we can’t lead people to Jesus,” singer Dylan John told iHeartRadio host Brooke Taylor on THE UPLOAD.
John met fellow singers Emily Clapp and Kollin Bailey as a music student at Trevecca Nazarene University, where their friendship grew through traveling worship teams. A Trevecca profile traces their first three-part spark to Bailey’s senior recital and their official start as a group to April 2024.
The beginning looked more like boot camp than stardom. The three sang three-hour sets at a Tin Roof location and laughed with Taylor about the venue sometimes paying them in quesadillas.
Their church-shaped harmonies soon found a much bigger room. DEK of Hearts earned a four-chair turn on NBC’s THE VOICE, chose Niall Horan as coach and finished third in Season 28 in December 2025.
In the Sept. 2 interview, John said Horan helped arrange the trio’s first management meeting after the competition. The prospective team ultimately declined to work with them because the group did not fit its mold and suggested they consider contemporary Christian music or worship instead.
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DEK of Hearts stayed on the country road. That choice was not a step away from faith, the trio explained, but a way to carry it into rooms where listeners may never think to look for it.
Clapp recalled one outdoor show on a 90-degree day where a listener raised their hands in worship, even though the song had not been written as worship music. The trio believes moments like that can meet people who may never enter a church building or speak with a pastor.
“The stories that we tell are true, and the stories that we tell are hard,” Bailey said. The group writes about alcoholism, divorce, grief and other wounds that can leave people feeling alone.
That mercy runs through “Dear Ole Whiskey,” a song drawn from Bailey’s childhood experience with his mother’s struggle with alcoholism. He told Taylor that the song addresses the substance through the eyes of a little boy rather than condemning the person caught in addiction, while the Grand Ole Opry’s official biography notes that the song helped the trio win a place at the 2025 Tennessee Songwriters Week showcase.
Their ministry is practical, too. Bailey recalled sound crews noticing that the trio treated people with respect, while Clapp said listeners have raised their hands in worship or been moved to tears by songs that do not explicitly mention Jesus.
The singers bring that same intentionality to their relationships. Before THE VOICE, they attended counseling together to understand how each member communicates, and during the competition they challenged one another when pride started creeping in.
Their bond has carried them from three-hour Tin Roof sets and payment in quesadillas to the Opry’s famous circle. DEK of Hearts made its Opry debut May 29, 2026, performing “Dear Ole Whiskey “and “Crazy Lady” before returning to sing “Boondocks” with country singer Carly Pearce.
“It’s so funny to see how the Lord’s entrusted us with a little bit and then a little bit more, and we’ve been faithful with it,” Bailey said.
“That’s been our prayer,” he added.
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