A&M-Commerce Staff Member Receives Emmy Award for Musical Compositions

A photo of a person holding a golden trophy.

A staff member at Texas A&M University-Commerce was honored with an Emmy Award from the Rocky Mountain Southwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Taylor Mefford, who works as manager of videography in the Office of Marketing and Communications at A&M-Commerce, received the award as part of the production team for “Unresolved,” a true-crime mini-documentary detailing the murder of Adrienne Salinas, a 2013 case that remains unsolved. Mefford composed the original musical score for the series, which aired on KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Arizona

The announcement came at the 46th Annual Rocky Mountain Emmys award ceremony in late 2023.

Mefford, who graduated from A&M-Commerce in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Radio-Television, spends most of his time behind a camera. However, he picked up music composition as a hobby during his teenage years.

While working for KPHO's parent company, Meredith Corporation, in 2020, he decided to throw his hat in the ring to compose for the station's new documentary series.

“I have mixed feelings about the true crime genre, so I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to compose for this project,” Mefford said. “But the series was very grounded and wanted to present the facts of what happened.”

Mefford originally supplied a nine-track demo for consideration and was brought on to the project almost immediately. While the series was originally scheduled to air in November 2021, it was delayed until June 2022 due to developments in the case through the court system. The program aired after Mefford left KPHO to join the staff at A&M-Commerce.

In total, he composed more than three hours of original music for use across the series' six episodes, some of which remained unused. Mefford explained that the project pushed him outside of his comfort zone.

“Since composition is mostly just a hobby for me, this series was a step up,” Mefford said. “I've taken quite a break from making my own music, but I'll get back to it.”

The series is available to stream for free at the KPHO website.

(Above photo by Tyler Holloway, A&M-Commerce Marketing and Communications)