The Dryes Bring Traditional Sound With 'Christmas Is Callin''

Country duo The Dryes use their Santa mugs all year long.

“We celebrate Christmas pretty hard," Derek Drye admits with a laugh in a recent interview with Taste of Country. "It's just our favorite time of year."

And while the husband-and-wife duo made up of Katelyn and Derek Drye might not have much on their holiday wish list that could ever top the year that they have already had as part of NBC’s The Voice, they did know they wanted to celebrate their favorite time of the year with a brand new Christmas song.

“We are diehard fans of the classics, so I felt like if we were going to write an original, it just had to be the coziest, most accessible thing,” Derek says of “Christmas is Callin’," which is premiering exclusively on Taste of Country on Tuesday. (Pre-save it here!)

“Sonically we kept it in a country traditional realm, like what Loretta [Lynn] and Conway [Twitty] would put out if they had written a Christmas tune.”

The Dryes wrote “Christmas is Callin’” just about a year ago with fellow songwriter Kelli Johnson, having met her via her own work with Drake White.

“She's just a good ol' country gal who can really get all into the lyrical jousting that sometimes happens, you know” Derek says of Johnson. “She's the type of writer where she'll cheer you on, but then she'll put her fingerprint on it as well.”

The Dryes’ fingerprints are all over “Christmas is Callin’," with the lyrics delving into many a specific memory from the upbringing of the two Tennessee natives.

“Katelyn's sister got an Amy Grant Christmas CD one year, and they wore that out,” Derek recalls. “Heck, we still do. I think that's one of her most prominent childhood memories. I really think that was a point of point of bonding for them through music.”

For many, this piece of music from this country duo will bring memories of the holiday music once made by Joey + Rory.

“We're obsessed with them from a faith level and story level,” Derek says of the much-loved pair that broke onto the country music scene in 2008 with their hit song “Cheater, Cheater” and long held the hearts of their devoted fans until Joey’s untimely death in 2016. “We don't have any connections to them logistically, but emotionally, they are relationship goals for sure. They are a big inspiration for us.”

Currently, The Dryes are looking forward to some much-deserved downtime following a series of sold-out Christmas shows in North Carolina.

"We've already turned on the fire a few times,” Derek says, laughing. “That's usually the morning routine. I scramble some eggs, put on the fire, she makes coffee, and we just sit there in front of the fire for a couple of hours. It's just nuts how blessed we've been to get to make music here. We're just in love with where we're at."