Up-and-coming singer/songwriter Will Sarver has a bright future. The college senior, middle child of five, and area native, recently released his single, “Shot Down,” available on Spotify. I recently had the privilege of chatting with this impressive young man about his music and where he’s headed. I have a feeling that I’ll one day be able to look back on that conversation and say, “I knew him when…” 

What do you do musically?

I do a mixture of country and rock, and a couple of originals that I’ve been working on. I’d say it’s more old rock, old country. I started playing music when I was at Greenbrier East. I joined their rock ensemble program and it made me happy to perform for people. When I started that, I started as a singer, and as time went on, I ended up taking guitar classes and that propelled me forward. When I learned guitar, I learned older country, and it just made it easier for me to go from there. I bought my first electric and my first acoustic in my junior year of high school. 

I think what also helped me was that I was part of theater, too. I was part of the high school theatre troupe, I was actually in GVT for a while, and I did a little bit of theatre in Bethany. That got me a lot more comfortable with being onstage. 

So I’ve been playing music for about six, seven years. I started gigging in college. I actually took a class in college (Will is a student at Bethany College) called Rock Ensemble. It’s really similar to Second Block Rock, the program I took in high school. My Rock Ensemble teacher really encouraged me to get out and play, so I put together a set list. Later, I asked places around here if I could play for free when I was on break. I started out at the Brewery in White Sulphur. After that, word just sort of spread around about this kid playing music, and I played in Covington, some other places around town. I went back to school and played around Morgantown, West Liberty – our neighboring college, I played with a couple of bands at Bethany. It’s been awesome. It wouldn’t have been the same if I hadn’t had Second Block Rock and Rock Ensemble. They’re the ones that really projected me into performing more. 

Would you like to talk about your recently released single?

(Released January 6, 2024) It’s called “Shot Down,” and it has a Country/Western type feel to it. The single can be found on Spotify. 

What are your plans for the future?

After Bethany, I’m hoping to go to Nashville. I’m applying to Belmont University, which is in the heart  of Nashville, to go there for my Master’s Degree in Communications. (Editor’s note: Since this conversation, Will was accepted to Belmont. Congratulations, Will!) I’m hoping to meet people down there, get a feel for whether I’d enjoy the scene down there.

What’s your biggest inspiration, musically speaking?

I just really enjoy it. I enjoy going and performing for people. I remember when I was little, I was always kind of a singer. I would sing in the car with my mom. She’d turn on The Statler Brothers, and I would sing to that. It was a lot of fun. And, just performing for people who really enjoy it, seeing the smiles on people’s faces…when they say they really enjoyed being at a show, really enjoyed my songs, that’s something I really like to hear.

My parents really helped me along the way. My dad was a little bit of a singer. He was in the choir in church. He still sings here and there. My older brother played guitar when I was little and I always looked up to him. 

The Rock Ensemble, my professor at Bethany, Pandel Collaros, was a big inspiration. When I first joined the Rock Ensemble at Bethany, it was mainly Professor Collaros and me and a bassist that showed up occasionally. We went over songs we loved. When he went on sabbatical my sophomore year, I missed having someone to play with, so I decided to find a student that played bass, a student who played drums, and I kind of pulled them in. We started playing together, stuff like “Stuck in the Middle,” and Beatles songs. They just really enjoyed it too. When my teacher got back, he said, “Oh, you made a band!” (He laughs.) I was like, “You were gone. I didn’t have anyone to play music with.” 

Later on, some other people joined. I got a guitarist. I got a female vocalist who sings all the Fleetwood Mac stuff, she’s amazing. We’ve been doing that for a while. I think the majority of us are seniors, except for a junior and they asked what they’re going to do when we leave, and I say, “Make a band.”

Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?

I’ll tell them what I kept telling myself when I was younger: keep going. Keep going, and going, and going. Don’t let up. You’re going to have those rough spots, especially in writing music. People told me to start writing music, because it only helps you get better. So just keep going. Good stuff will come your way. Find people to enjoy it with. Keep going and enjoy yourself. 

You can find Will on Facebook and Instagram (Will Sarver and Will Sarver Music.) You can see him live March 2 and March 15 at the Sportsman Tavern in Ronceverte, and March 16 at Hill and Holler in Lewisburg, and again in May on May 26 at Hill and Holler in Lewisburg.