In case you missed the October newsletter, we posted an interview with Arrows & Anchors. The full interview is below:

We recently caught up with Reid Kelly and Amy Coleman as they were traveling to Nashville to lead worship at “A Call to Holiness” Youth Rally. Read about how they stepped into the world of songwriting and what we can look forward to in the future.

When would you say your love for singing/songwriting began?
Reid: My love for singing definitely came first. When I was in Jr. High, my older cousin knew how to play guitar. I wanted to learn too so I wouldn’t be the “uncool” cousin. When I went to North Greenwood Baptist Church in high school, there were a lot of really cool musicians who would come down from Memphis to play on Wednesday nights. They taught me a lot and eventually let me work my way into playing with them. The songwriting started on a Wednesday night at Westminster when no one else showed up to music practice (unless you count the cheesy love songs I wrote to Lindsey when we were dating).

Amy: I had never attempted writing lyrics before I started writing with Reid. Growing up in the Church of Christ, four part harmony was a big part of music on Sundays. My mom sang alto and I loved to sing with her. She says I would walk around the house when I was little making up my own songs. I wrote several melodies when I was in high school but would never put words to them for fear of being cheesy. But mainly I was writing the wrong things – silly love songs and not about things that were the most meaningful to me. Now, our lyrics are very meaningful. A lot of the songs in “Volume 1” came about when Reid and I couldn’t find songs that fit with Richard’s sermon topics. So we decided to write our own. Doing it that way came much easier than we expected.

How did Arrows & Anchors come to be? What’s the story behind the name?
We were both drawn to Hebrews 6:19 (“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure”). We were trying to think of a meaningful name and that verse kept popping up. Jesus is our hope and He anchors us. The arrows are everywhere in scripture, pointing us to our need for a Savior as an anchor. Not only does the Bible point to Christ as our anchor, but also points us to truths that anchor us.

Were there any other names that you considered?
Reid: I was really pushing hard for “Pretty Little Lyres”, like the TV show, only spelled like the stringed instrument from the Bible, get it? I’m not sure why that one never took hold. I’m still hoping that will show up somewhere – maybe the title of our next album?

What was something new that you learned about the music industry when you were in Nashville recording your album?
Since we hadn’t been playing with a full band, especially without a drummer, our time in the studio was a very different experience. We had to learn a lot as we went.

We also learned a lot about songwriting as we worked on rewrites with our producer. When we were writing songs from specific passages of scripture for a certain Sunday’s sermon, they made sense. But when we read the verses back afterwards, they weren’t as clear when taken out of context. So we had to narrow down the focus of the songs in order to have a more unifying theme.

We learned a ton about the production side of what goes into making an album. For example, when they record vocal tracks, you record multiple takes of the same thing and they are all layered on top of each other.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. Everyone we worked with in the studio was a Christian, from the producer to all of the musicians. It was really cool to be so welcomed as the rookies. We were also grateful for their patience with us!

What can we look forward to in the coming year? Is Volume 2 (or should I say “Pretty Little Lyres”) in the works?
We will be leading all of the worship at “A Call to Holiness” Youth Rally in Nashville on September 23rd, then the Album Release party will be October 3rd. We are hoping to have a couple of other shows around the state in the Fall/Winter. And we plan to start writing again in the spring. We have four songs already in the works. We are also toying around with the idea of an album of hymn rewrites.

What have you most enjoyed about the songwriting process?
From a personal standpoint, it is unique to be able to write music specifically for our church family. The majority of our songs were written based on the word being preached by Richard or specific struggles that we knew members of Westminster were going through. The purpose wasn’t to become stars, but to encourage and speak to our church family. All of our experiences influence what we put on paper. And not just experiences from the past year or two, but from an entire lifetime. Thoughts, questions, relationships - everything came to the table when we were writing.

Throughout this entire process, it’s been amazing to see how God’s been using our own music to change our lives as well; so these songs are as much for us as they are everyone else. Our prayer is that God would use this music to encourage and bless others while ultimately bringing Him all the glory.

Arrows & Anchors held their Album Release Party on October 3rd. For more information about Arrows & Anchors, visit their website at www.arrowsandanchorsmusic.com. To download their album, "Volume 1", in iTunes, click here.